Quarantined
by Anubis Enfield
Summary: It was supposed to be physically impossible for me to be here, yet here I was. They hadn't noticed I was awake yet. That I was breathing and alive, able to move. The cat people were clueless for now, but I couldn't take much more. Someone needed to let me out. But who would find me? Who could possibly help me?
1. Chapter 1: New Earth

**Just something I came up with when rewatching "New Earth".**

* * *

I wasn't supposed to be here. It was supposed to be physically _impossible_ for me to be here, yet here I was. They hadn't noticed I was awake yet. That I was breathing and alive, able to move. The cat people were clueless for now, but I couldn't take much more. The gas made me sick, violently ill and I was forced to hold it back again and again as the cats searched through us all. They knew. They weren't _supposed_ to know. I wouldn't die like the others. I couldn't be infected and I couldn't get out. The pod trapped me. It was impossible for me to escape, at least, from the inside. Someone needed to let me out.

But who would find me? Who could possibly help me? I was in an underground area of the hospital that no one but the cats knew about. The only other people down here were the infected. The people that the cats used in an attempt to cure the people above. _I need to get out._ I slammed a fist against the thick glass as I had done hundreds of thousands of times, though it was no use. The glass wouldn't break no matter how hard I hit it. _I need to get out!_

I stiffened upon hearing someone coming and I feigned unconsciousness as they wandered into the room.

"It was having a perfectly normal blood wash, and all of a sudden, it started crying." A cat said, walking in with another. "It's this one."

She opened one of the pods and I couldn't help but feel my heart clench as the man inside reached out towards them, crying and begging.

"Please, help me."

"Look at its eyes. So alive." The cat said, sounding almost disgusted.

"Positively sparkling."

"Please, where am I?" He questioned, making me lower my head and clench my eyes shut.

"And speech! How can it even have a vocabulary?"

"Sister Corvin's written a thesis on the migration of sentience. She calls it 'The Echo of Life'. It's well worth a read."

"Help me…"

"I've seen enough, thank you."

The cat closed the door and I braced myself for what I knew was going to happen next.

"If this happens again, we might have to review our brain stem policy."

"And what should we do with the patient?"

"Standard procedure. Incinerate."

The cat pulled a lever, lighting up the man's pod and I grit my teeth tightly as I heard his screams echo around the room, that is, until the cat approached me. Unfortunately, it was too late for me to play possum.

"Ah, and _this_ one's awake. Be sure to start treatment seven now that she's up."

"Of course."

I slammed a fist against the glass once more, snarling at the cat nun as she flinched ever so slightly and hurried off. The other cat stayed and proceeded to start this treatment seven. The pain was excruciating and I thrashed and screamed for what felt like hours, though I knew it was only for a few moments. I did my best to collect whatever it was they had just given me and force it out of my body, but it would take a lot of energy and by the time I finished expelling a majority of it, I was too exhausted to do much more than hang there limply. My breathing was erratic and came out in wheezes, vision blurred to the point that I couldn't make out hardly anything. My ears were ringing from my own screaming and I felt on the verge of tears mentally screaming my hatred towards the creatures that were doing this to me.

 _I'm not even supposed to be here. Even remembering how I got here is all a blur now. Whatever they've been giving me has altered my memories. All I can remember is… a TV show. But it's all so real now… that's impossible._ I strained lightly against the chains holding me back, but I was too weak. I could hardly even hear the footsteps heading this way. _Wait…footsteps? But the cats already—_ I heard a door being open not too far off and lifted my head enough to see two people, a man and a woman, opening the door of a pod across the way. _People?! A-Actual people?!_

"That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?" The girl asked as I grit my teeth and forced myself to stand in my own pod.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The man said, closing the door as he moved down the line to the next door and opened it.

"What disease is that?"

"All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything."

"What about us? Are we safe?"

"The air's sterile. Just don't touch them." He said, closing the door just as I gathered enough energy to slam my fist into the glass, a resounding 'boom' echoing in the underground chamber catching their attention.

He looked over at the woman as I did it once more, pressing a hand to the glass in the hopes that he might see it. _Please… Please get me out._ I silently begged, hearing his footsteps stepping away as I slammed my fist against the door four more times, desperately trying to stop him. _Come back! Please!_ I peeked open my eyes then, hoping to see him or the woman, but there was nothing. They had gone… Or so I thought.

The door to my pod opened and I very nearly cried in relief as the man poked his head around the door with surprised eyes.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect this."

"What is it?"

I frowned at the woman as she poked around the corner as well. "I'm not an it." I breathed out, voice raspy from screaming. "Now do you mind… helping me get out?"

The man began waving some stick at the cuffs and they released themselves. Fortunately, that meant I was free but—with no more strength left—I fell forward. The man was kind enough to catch me though, helping me out of the pod and sitting me down on the ground as I struggled to take in something that wasn't disease filled gas.

"But what about the diseases?!" The woman shouted, looking panicked. "Won't you be infected?!"

The man shook his head. "Doesn't appear so with this one, though I would be able to handle some exposure… well, to a point." He then turned to me. "I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Taylor. How did you get here?"

"Wish you could tell me." I breathed out, peeking an eye open. "Whatever they've been giving me has altered my memories. I can't remember how I got here or where I am other than a hospital. I'm lucky I can even remember my name, at this point… Kris Eaton."

"It's nice to meet you, Kris." He smiled, though I felt it was a little forced, given our current situation. "Is there anything you can tell me about what they're doing down here?"

"Nothing much." I responded, clearing my throat a bit. "They just give us the diseases and then take samples from those living through it. Harvesting cures, is my guess."

He frowned. "And what about you? I don't see any symptoms."

"I'm special, I guess." I bitterly joked. "I never showed symptoms. For some reason, I can gather whatever they give me and expel it. They've been experimenting to try and figure me out ever since."

His eyes softened, though I could see some curiosity in them. "I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault." I croaked, clearing my throat once more.

Rose stepped up then, looking at me with a worried expression. "How many patients _are_ there?"

"They're not patients." The Doctor said, looking furious.

"But they're sick."

"They were _born_ sick. They were _meant_ to be sick. They _exist_ to be sick."

I nodded. "We're all lab rats. I was just the unlucky one to have been _brought_ here instead of born here."

"No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human _farm_ … Come on. Let's get you out of here."

He looked sorrowfully over at me and helped me up, draping my arm over his shoulder as we started walking out.

"Why don't they just die?" Rose questioned as we walked.

"Plague carriers. The last to go."

"It's for the greater cause."

I tensed at the new voice, body poised to fight if need be, feeling bile rise up in my throat at the cat nurse.

"Novice Hame." The Doctor said, looking cross. "When you took your vows, did you agree to this?"

"The Sisterhood has sworn to help."

"What? By killing? _Torturing?_ " The Doctor shouted.

"But they're not real people. They're specially grown. They have no proper existence. And she was an impossibility!" The cat tried to explain, but I wasn't having it.

"You've killed thousands!" I shouted. "The moment they start feeling again, you _incinerate_ them!"

The Doctor was even more displeased with that. "What's the turnover, hm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many?!"

"Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did _try_. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh."

"These people are alive."

"But think of those humans, out _there_. Healthy and happy because of _us_."

"And what about the people in here?!" I shouted, absolutely ticked. "Don't _we_ deserve a chance to be happy?!"

The Doctor agreed. "If they live because of this, then life is worthless."

"But who are you to decide that?"

"I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with me."

We were face-to-face with Novice Hame now, but before we could get any further with our argument, Rose stepped up.

"Just to confirm, none of the humans in this city actually _know_ about this."

"We thought it best not." Novice Hame said with a slight bow.

"Hold on." The Doctor said, adjusting my position. "I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand, what have you done to Rose?"

I blinked, very confused, but allowed the Doctor to continue on, uninterrupted.

"I don't know what you mean."

"And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that. Very, _very_ calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, I want it reversed."

"We haven't done _anything_." Novice Hame said, as…not-Rose spoke.

"I'm perfectly fine."

"These people are dying and _Rose_ would care." The Doctor said, turning around after helping me lean up against a pod.

"Oh, alright, clever clogs. Smarty pants. Lady-killer." Not-Rose pulled out his tie once he faced her.

"What's happened to you?"

"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out."

"Who are you?"

"The last human." She said in his ear.

"Cassandra?"

"Wake up and smell the perfume." She then sprayed something up his nose and he collapsed, making me look between everyone in blatant shock.

 _Did she just—_

"Y-You've hurt him!" Novice Hame said, kneeling to his side once he'd fallen. "I don't understand. I-I'll have to fetch Matron."

"You do that, because I want to see her." Cassandra said, barking orders at the cat nurse. "Now run along! Sounds the alarm!"

The cat took off and Cassandra yanked on a set of tubes, setting off an alarm, before heading towards the Doctor and I.

"H-Hey. I don't know what's going on, but I don't think—"

She suddenly shoved me into an open pod, my head slamming into the metal siding and making me dizzy as she closed the door. _No, no, no. Please, not again!_ I heard another door close and felt sick already as I soon heard the Doctor shouting in his pod.

"Let me out! Let me out!"

"Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only."

"You've stolen Rose's body." He scolded as I struggled to get the ringing in my head to stop.

"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got around three minutes left. Though your friend over there only has two. Enjoy."

"Just let Rose go, Cassandra."

"I _will_. As soon as I find someone younger and… less common. Then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushaby. It's show time."

I saw her blurry figure move away, but I was only angrier when I heard the cats speak up.

"Anything we can do to help?"

"Straight to the point, Whiskers. I want money."

"The Sisterhood is a charity. We don't give money. We only accept."

"The humans across the water pay you a fortune, and that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment, that's all I want. Oh, and perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I shall tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?"

"I'm afraid not."

 _Like they would accept a deal._ I mentally scoffed, before I heard the hissing of air and quickly held my breath as the gas began flooding into my pod.

"I'd really advise you to think about this." Cassandra continued, in an attempt to compromise.

"Oh, there's no _need_. I have to decline."

"I'll tell them and you've no way of stopping me. You're not exactly Nuns with Guns. You're not even armed."

 _I'm running out of air…_

"Who needs arms when we have claws?"

"Well, nice try. Chip! Plan B!"

I spotted another figure over to the side and mentally sighed in relief when he pulled the lever opening all the pod doors. I stumbled out, coughing and leaning against my own door with a frown.

"While I'm glad that I'm out of that thing… you _do_ know that you just unleashed a horde of disease carrying people that can kill you with a single touch, right?"

The Doctor stepped out of his pod in shock. "What have you done?!"

"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!"

"Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!" The Doctor shouted at the cats before grabbing me and chasing after Cassandra and Chip.

We continued running, even as the doors around us sparked and the locks fizzed out, unleashing even _more_ people behind us. We finally came to a stop, myself struggling to breathe, and the Doctor overlooked the open doors in shock.

"Oh my God." Cassandra breathed out.

"What the hell have you done?" The Doctor said.

"It wasn't _me_!"

"One touch and you get every disease in the world and I want that body safe, Cassandra. We've got to go down."

"But there's thousands of them!"

"Run! Down! Down! Go down!" The Doctor shouted at us as we became nearly surrounded by Flesh.

I was doing what I could to keep up, but it was difficult. I hadn't so much as moved more than a few inches while locked up, and I had inhaled some of the gas before I was let out, so running _now_ after all of that wasn't the best thing for me. The Doctor seemed to realize this and he helped me as much as he could, continuing to shout.

"Keep going! Go down!"

We passed through a smaller door, scrambling towards the lifts, but the Doctor stopped us.

"No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving."

"This way!" She shouted, leading us down another path, but Chip got cut off from us, making the Doctor and I stop.

"Someone will touch him!"

"Leave him!" Cassandra shouted. "He's just a clone thing! He's only got a half-life. Come on!"

She hurried off and the Doctor gave her a brief glance and then turned back to Chip.

"I'm sorry. I can't let her escape."

He then turned, taking me by the wrist and tugging me after him as we tried to catch up with Cassandra. I felt bad for Chip though, he was just like the Flesh in a way, made to do work for someone else and then left behind. We ran down another passageway though, and I put those thoughts in the back of my head as the Doctor closed the door behind us and let me lean up against it as I tried to catch my breath and Cassandra checked another door only to slam it shut moments later.

"We're trapped! What are we going to do?!"

"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body." The Doctor replied, pointing to some machine in the archway. "That psychograft is banned on every civilized planet. You're compressing Rose to death."

"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's _dead_." Cassandra said, rounding on the Doctor.

"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, _get_ _out_." He demanded, pointing that stick at her. "Give her back to me."

"You asked for it."

She took a deep breath in and then exhaled, but what I didn't expect was the dust she breathed out that hit the Doctor.

"I'm in my head." Cassandra—no, Rose said, making me even more confused. "Where'd she go?"

"Hm~"

I looked over at the Doctor and felt myself pale as I finally understood what happened. _Oh God._

"Oh my, this is… different."

"Cassandra?"

"Goodness me, I'm a _man_! Yum, so many parts. And hardly used. Oh, oh, two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!" He— _She_ said, moving strangely.

"Get out of him."

"Oh, he's slim and a little bit foxy." Cassandra turned to Rose with a teasing smirk. "You've thought so too. I've been inside your head. You've been looking. You like it."

Just then, the door burst open and the Flesh started coming in, causing Cassandra to freak, smacking Rose on the arm in her panic.

"What do we do? What would _he_ do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?!"

Rose spotted a ladder and pointed it out. "Ladder. We've got to get up."

Cassandra quickly shoved her aside. "Out of the way, blondie!"

Cassandra quickly began climbing the ladder and Rose went to go as well, but spotted me.

"Come on! Quickly!"

I nodded, doing my best to make it over there and I began climbing up behind her, though my arms were already screaming for me to let go after the first few rungs.

"If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something." Rose called up to Cassandra.

"Yap, yap, yap. _God_ , it was tedious inside your head. Hormone city."

"We're going to die if—"

"Ah!" I called out, one of the cat nurses having somehow managed to climb up the ladder after us and grab my ankle.

"All our good work, all that healing! The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything!" She called up to us as I struggled to kick her off me and keep a hold of the ladder.

"Go and play with a ball of string." Cassandra said with a roll of her eyes.

"Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!"

Just then, a Flesh grabbed her ankle and she fell down the shaft screaming as said Flesh worked their way up the ladder.

"Move!" I shouted, making Cassandra let out a yelp and scurry up the ladder.

We stopped at a door on our left, but Cassandra wasn't doing the best of jobs trying to get it opened and the Flesh were getting closer.

"Now what do we do?"

"Use the sonic screwdriver."

"The sonic what?" I questioned, just as confused as Cassandra as she pulled out the stick the Doctor used before.

"You mean this thing?"

"Yes, I mean that thing."

"Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts."

"Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it. Do it!"

"Hold on tight."

They switched again and Cassandra groaned. "Oh, chavtastic again. Open it!"

"Not till you get out of her."

"We need the Doctor."

"I order you to leave her!"

The switched once more and I rolled my eyes as they started arguing once more.

"No matter _how_ difficult the situation, there is no need to shout."

"Cassandra, get _out_ of him!"

"But I can't go into you, he simply refuses. He's so rude."

"I don't care. Just do something."

"Just go into me!" I shouted up at them, catching them by surprise.

"Well, alright." She complained, moving to transfer into me, but she somehow missed and ended up in one of the Flesh below me.

"Oh, sweet Lord. I look disgusting!"

The Doctor opened the door, holding out a hand to Rose. "Nice to have you back."

He then passed a hand over to me as Cassandra below us growled in frustration.

"No, you don't."

Cassandra forced her way into me this time, just as the Doctor closed the doors.

* * *

"That was your _last_ warning, Cassandra!" The Doctor shouted, none too pleased about Cassandra being in Kris either.

Cassandra though, was staring blankly ahead of her. "Inside her head… They're so alone. They keep reaching out, just to hold us…All their lives and they've never been touched."

The Doctor held out his hand and helped her up, saying nothing, but she kept going.

"A-And Kris, she… she's been through so much. I don't understand how she could have…"

Rose and the Doctor shared worried looks, but the pounding on the door got them focused on escaping once more and thankfully, they found an exit this time; leading them back to the Face of Boe's room where a woman charged at them angrily with a chair.

"We're safe, we're safe, we're safe!" The Doctor called out loudly in his defense. "We're clean, we're clean! Look, look!"

"Show me your skin." She demanded and the trio did so.

"Look, clean, look. If we'd been touched, we'd have been dead."

She hesitantly lowered the chair and the Doctor quickly began trying to figure out the situation.

"So what's been going on up here? What's the status?"

"There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. But I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."

"You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine."

"I am _not_ dying in here."

"We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There is ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!" The Doctor shouted.

"Not if it gets me out."

"Alright, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Rose, Novice Hame, everyone! Excuse me, your Grace." The Doctor said as he went behind the large man and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Get me intravenous solutions for every _single_ disease. Move it!"

Everyone began scrambling to do as he said, but he noticed Cassandra sitting on the ground up against the wall, breathing hard. Making his way over, he knelt down beside her, looking a little worried.

"You alright?"

"I-I have… no idea how she did it… Her body's a mess… I can hardly stand for more than a minute and she somehow managed to _run_ all the way up here!"

The Doctor smiled, patting her knee. "Goes to show how determined she is." He said, before moving back to get a piece he needed and a tube which he used as a rope to carry the packages of solution.

"How's that? Will that do?" He asked Rose.

"If I knew what these were for, I might say yes." She replied, a bit lost as to what he was doing.

He ignored her and hurried to the lift, opening it.

"Didn't you say the lifts weren't working?"

"Not moving. Different thing. Here we go." He put the sonic screwdriver in his mouth and took a running start towards the lift, grabbing a hold of the cable as Rose let out a tense breath of relief.

"Could you not do that? And what do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm going down." He said around the screwdriver, using it to attack a metal piece to the cable, before looking over at Rose. "Come on."

She rolled her eyes, before jumping on the Doctor's back. "You're completely mad!"

"Going down!" He called out, dropping them down the rope quickly, braking before they reached the stopped lift.

"That was fun." Rose said, slightly out of breath.

"Now, listen. When I say so, take a hold of that lever." The Doctor said.

"There's still a quarantine down there, we can't—"

"Hold that lever!" He said loudly, desperately. "I'm cooking up a cocktail. I know a bit about medicine myself."

He began tearing off the ends of the solution bags with his teeth, pouring the liquid into the tank above the lift, one after the other.

"Now, that lever's going to resist, but keep it in position." He told her, opening the hatch for the lift and climbing down. "Hold onto it with everything you've got."

"What about you?"

"I've got an appointment. The Doctor is in." He said, before jumping down into the lift.

He then opened the lift door with his screwdriver, catching the attention of the Flesh in the other room, calling out to them.

"I'm in here. Come on!"

"What are you _doing_?!"

"Pull that lever!" The Doctor told her and she did.

"Come and get me, come on! I'm in here, come on! Hurry in! Come on!" He shouted, just as the disinfectant solution he conjured up began spraying on him and the Flesh walking towards him. "Come on, come on."

The Flesh began to get healthier and the Doctor smiled a bit, shouting at them.

"All they want to do is pass it on! Pass it on!"

He continued to shout that as the Flesh began passing on the cure to one another before Rose jumped down to join him in the lift.

"What did they pass on?"

He smiled, walking out with her. "I'm the Doctor and I cured them."

One of the ladies came over and hugged him, him returning the hug with a grin.

"Oh, that's right! Hey. There we go, sweetheart!" He then led her over to another and he started walking around, looking at some of the others. "It's a new subspecies, Rose! A brand new form of life! _New_ humans! Look at them, look! Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, _completely_ , alive! The human race just keeps on going. Keeps on changing! Life will out! Ha!"

He grinned over at Rose, but she looked a little worried. "What about Kris? Wasn't she one of the infected too?"

"Hm, good point." The Doctor said. "Let's go check up on her, shall we?"

It took them a moment before they could get back upstairs to the room where the surviving group was, informing them of the good news before the Doctor and Rose made their way over to Cassandra.

"How's she doing?" He asked her, kneeling by her side once more. "How's her body holding up?"

Cassandra sighed wearily. "Why don't you ask her that yourself?"

* * *

Cassandra let out a breath, transferring her back over to Rose, to which she stretched and let out a pleased groan.

"God, I don't know _how_ you can do anything in that body. Everything's so stiff!"

I looked over at her tiredly. "You'd be like this too, if they kept you locked up in one of those pods for who knows how long."

"Yeah, your memories _were_ pretty muffled."

Announcements began being called out loudly as the police began showing up, but I could care less. I was far too exhausted, though the Doctor seemed pretty pleased.

"How would you like to meet the Face of Boe? One of the oldest creatures in the universe!"

"Depends." I breathed out, giving him a look. "Are you going to help me get there?"

The Doctor grinned. "I suppose I can do that."

He helped me up off the ground, lending me his shoulder and helping to carry me over to the Face of Boe, who was now awake and seeming rather lively for a supposedly dying person.

"You were supposed to be dying." The Doctor said to him as he helped me down into a chair.

"There are better things to do today. Dying can wait."

"Oh, I hate telepathy. Just what I need, a head full of big face." Cassandra commented.

"Sh!" The Doctor hushed.

"I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew."

"There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old."

"There are? That would be impossible." The Face of Boe laughed and something told me that there was some sort of inside joke that I was missing out on.

"Wouldn't it just. I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me."

"A great secret."

"So the legend says."

"It can wait."

"Oh, does it have to?" The Doctor whined.

"We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told." He then shifted his gaze to me and I felt as though he was looking through me. "I shall see you again as well, time traveler. At a time when you better understand yourself and what it is that you were brought here to do. Until that day."

He then phased out, traveling to some unknown destination and leaving me more than a little confused and the Doctor a little upset.

"That is enigmatic. That, that is, that is textbook enigmatic." He said, before rounding on me. "Though that bit about you, that was rather interesting. A _time traveler_ , did he say? I thought I was the only one doing that nowadays."

I held my hands up in surrender. "I haven't the slightest what he was talking about, sorry."

"Oh no. I didn't expect you to, if what Cassandra was saying was accurate. Your memories in a bunch and all." He said, not looking too concerned, though I could see that he really wanted to know what the Face of Boe meant. He turned to Cassandra then, choosing something else to occupy himself with for now. "And now for you."

"But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?"

"You've lived long enough. Leave that body and end it, Cassandra."

Cassandra immediately began crying. "I don't want to die."

"No one does."

"Help me."

"I can't."

"Mistress!" Chip rounded the corner, looking pleased.

"Oh, you're alive!"

"I kept myself safe. For _you_ mistress." He smiled.

"A body…and not just that, a _volunteer_."

"Don't you dare!" The Doctor warned her. "He's got a life of his own."

"But I worship the mistress!" Chip argued. "I welcome her."

"You can't, Cassandra! You—"

Cassandra ignored him and transferred over to Chip, Rose dropping towards the floor; though the Doctor caught her.

"You alright?"

She stood up, before her knees buckled again and he caught her once more.

"Woah! You okay?"

"Yeah. Hello." She smiled.

"Hello, welcome back." He smiled in return, the scene making me a bit uncomfortable, like I was intruding.

"Oh sweet lord." Cassandra said, holding up her arms. "I'm a walking doodle."

"You can't stay in there." The Doctor said, getting back on the task at hand. "I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done."

"Well, that would be _rather_ dramatic. Possibly my finest hour, and certainly my finest hat, but I'm afraid we don't have time. Poor little Chip is only a half-life and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last—" Cassandra suddenly started falling, the Doctor and Rose catching her and helping her to her knees.

"You aright?"

"I'm fine." She said, holding a hand to her chest. "I'm dying…But that's fine."

"I can take you to the city." The Doctor offered once more.

"No. You won't. Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me anymore… You're right, Doctor. It's time to die… That's good."

The Doctor helped her up along with Rose. "Come on. There's one last thing I can do."

Rose helped her walk and the Doctor turned to me, helping me up out of my own chair and out of the room.

"I'm sorry about this, Kris."

I shook my head slowly. "Oh no. It's fine. I think I've had enough special treatment for a lifetime."

He looked at me sorrowfully. "I'm really sorry."

"And I already told you it wasn't your fault." I sighed, cringing as I leaned against the inside of the lift. "Though I don't suppose you have any way of getting my memories back, do you?"

He shook his head as the other two in the lift gave me sorrowful looks as well.

"Well… it was worth a try…. Just wish I knew if there was somewhere for me to go to after all this, is all."

We grew quiet as we exited the lift and left the hospital, walking over a field until we came upon a blue police box. Needless to say, I was shocked at how large it was on the inside compared to the small outside, but had little time to enjoy it before we were surrounded by a whirring noise and the 'Tardis'—as the Doctor called it—took off and landed. The four of us exited it to find ourselves someplace completely different, a party of some sort, and Cassandra couldn't have looked any happier. She turned to the Doctor and smiled.

"Thank you."

"Just go. And don't look back." He said, before Rose leaned over a bit and smiled softly at her.

"Good luck."

I nodded as well. "Enjoy it."

She headed over to the blonde woman and spoke, too lowly for me to hear anything, but I knew that whatever it was, it really effected the woman. It was then though, that Cassandra collapsed and the blonde began begging for someone to help but the people seemed to shy away instead of helping and the three of us went back into the Tardis.

* * *

"So what are you going to do, Kris?" Rose asked me as I sat slumped in a chair.

"I don't know." I muttered. "There's not really anywhere for me to go without my memories in working order. I suppose you can just drop me off back where we were… wherever that was…"

Or so I said, but I could feel myself slowing down. Things were starting to get fuzzy around the edges and I knew that even if they did drop me back off at that hospital, that I'd probably just end up on the streets or something since I had no idea where I was or what I should be doing.

"Sorry." I muttered, shutting my eyes as a headache began to form behind my eyes. "Just drop me… wherever."

"We can't do that! We can't just leave you wherever! You'll die!" Rose shouted, the noise ringing in my ears

"I'll be… fine…" I said, voice softer than I thought as I felt myself starting to get off balance. "I-I'll be… just… fine…"

"Kris!"


	2. Chapter 2: Tooth and Claw

_Whirring… That noise is so… odd… I've never heard it before, but that's all I can describe it as… Whirring… and the dust… what is it? The gold flittering dust…_

 _A baby cried out and a young man hushed the child, cradling it and draping something heavy and round over its neck, whispering softly to the baby girl._

" _Hush now… It'll be alright."_

 _The girl calmed down and played with the circular object around her neck, curious._

" _There's nothing to be afraid of. It'll protect you. Hide you while I am gone. And I fear… I fear I may never see you again, dear, dear Kris… But do not forget me. Do not forget this old, old man."_

 _He chuckled, but a tear fell on the baby in his arms._

" _Remember me… and always look for the stars."_

* * *

I cracked my eyes open, groggy and tired, too tired to move. I saw a white ceiling and heard beeping, but that was it before I slipped back to sleep.

* * *

 _Burning fire… robots… clocks… bats… ghosts… the devil himself…_

" _Doctor!"_

 _Wind was whipping around my body, pulling at me, trying to tear me away. A flash of blonde flew past me, screaming, before disappearing in a flash of light and the wind stopped._

" _Rose!"_

* * *

I struggled to breathe, chest tight and body shaking in a cold sweat, sheets clinging to my form as a hand rested on my head.

"Hold on, Kris. Just hold on."

* * *

 _A young man's face hovered above a baby's as he held her in his arms, rocking her back and forth. He looked so sad and in his eyes was wisdom that one wouldn't expect from someone so young, so… kind and gentle. He was so sad though, full to the brim with sorrow like he was losing someone or had just lost someone. Someone close that he cared for dearly._

" _Don't forget me, Kris. My dear, dear Kris. My Broken Angel."_

* * *

I woke up, feeling tired, but not nearly as bad as before. Sitting up, I put a hand to my head as dizziness struck me, but it soon went away and I looked around the room in confusion. _Where am I?_ The room was unfamiliar, but I could easily tell that it was similar to a hospital room, which only made me tense and quickly want to leave. I started to panic, feeling my breath coming out in short bursts as I got up out of the bed and over to the door. I didn't expect the long hallway outside that was drastically different from the room I was in though.

"W-Where…" I turned to go back, but the door I had come out of was gone, leaving me only able to walk down the hall. "Please just get me somewhere familiar." I muttered under my breath, before coming to an entryway.

Thankfully, I recognized the room as the Tardis control room and a sigh of relief escaped my lips as I quietly thanked the Gods that I had ended up here and nowhere else. Oddly enough though, I felt like they spoke back, until I realized that it was just the Tardis… humming…

"Oh!"

I tensed at the sudden voice, but relaxed upon spotting the Doctor poking his head around the side of the console.

"You're awake! How are you feeling?"

"…Better." I said hesitantly.

"That's good!" He smiled, just as Rose walked in. "Ah, Rose! Look who's up!"

Rose gave me a wave and a smile to which I nodded, and she turned to the Doctor.

"Have you told her yet?"

I raised a brow in confusion. "Told me what?"

"Ah, right!" The Doctor said loudly, coming around the console and approaching me with his hands in his coat pockets. "You see, Kris, we want you to come with us! Travel the world! Have adventures! Live a little!"

I looked at him in shock, having not expected this. "W-What? But why would you… I mean, I'm nothing special. I-I'd just be in the way, wouldn't I?"

"Nah." He said. "You've got a nice head on your shoulders, I can tell! And you've been cooped up for so long, I think you should get a little fresh air. Keep us company! Have some fun!"

"But I… I don't even know who I am!" I said, feeling my own words cut into my chest as insecurity seeped in. "What could I do?"

Rose stepped over beside me, looking concerned. "We can't just leave you wandering some town or something, Kris. 'Sides, wouldn't you rather be here with someone familiar than on your own?"

I did. I didn't want to be left in some unknown place on my own, but this nagging sensation in the back of my head just kept telling me that I was different. I would get in the way or cause more trouble than I was worth. Yet another side of me told me that this was what I wanted. What I've been waiting for my whole life, even though I don't have the slightest idea of what my own life was like. There was just something. Something about the Tardis and the Doctor and Rose and what they were doing that begged me to go with them. To try and discover something about myself.

"Kris?"

I looked over at Rose and then up at the Doctor. "Could I… find my memories?"

"It's possible." He said, smiling a little.

"And… nothing like before is going to happen… right?"

"Probably not… Though there is the possibility—Hey!" He whined, Rose having smacked his shoulder.

"You're supposed to be encouraging her!"

"Well, I'm not going to _lie_."

"No, it's… It's fine." I said, bowing my head a bit, before gathering up my courage and staring back sternly. "I'll stay with you two, but I have one condition."

They looked at each other, before back to me as my confidence faded into embarrassment.

"Could I, uh, get some better clothes?"

I had been trapped in the same light blue hospital gown I was in back at the hospital and, well, let's just say it wasn't the cleanest thing in the world.

"A, uh, shower would be nice too…" I said, hoping that I wasn't pushing my luck, but the Doctor just smiled as Rose rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, come on. I'll show you where it is."

* * *

Once I had showered, I found myself standing in front of a mirror in the bathroom for the longest time. It had been so long since I'd seen myself and now that I was, it didn't feel like I was actually seeing _me_. I had very short auburn hair that seemed to shine a deep red under the light and dull blue-grey eyes that looked like they'd seen too much. I felt old, even though my facial features seemed young, and then, there was the scar. I traced it with my finger from the middle of the left side of my rib cage down to my right hip, where it traveled down my thigh. There was a gap in my memories of where it came from and what I did to have gotten it and what's worse, were the markings on my right side that trailed up my lower back to my shoulder blade.

I couldn't make heads or tails of them. They just looked like intricate circle designs, but something told them that they meant something and were a language of some sort. That was the most I could get from my memories before I started to get a headache and decided to just leave the thinking for later. I then glanced over at the clothing that—Rose had explained—the Tardis picked out for me; some jeans, ratty sneakers, a white t-shirt, a dark blue scarf, and a long grey trench coat. It was comfy enough, though the style didn't seem really suited for women, but I didn't mind. It was warm and made me feel safe, so I thanked the Tardis, not expecting it to hum again.

I came out and walked back into the control room—since Rose informed me that the Tardis will move things so that I headed where I wanted to go—a little confused and I decided to ask the Doctor about it.

"That's a good look for you." He said, upon catching sight of me, smiling. "Comfy?"

I nodded, looking around the Tardis. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"Do what?" He asked, moving around the console and messing with switches and buttons.

"Hum at you." I said, scratching the back of my neck. "I, uh, thanked it for the clothes earlier, since that's where Rose said they came from, and it… hummed at me."

He poked his head around the console with a grin. "She likes you."

"She?"

He nodded. "Of course. What else would she be?"

"Oh… sorry then." I said to the Tardis, earning another hum. "So then, um, where exactly are we going now?"

"Not where, _when_." He grinned. "And the answer is 1979!"

I blinked, before remembering that the Tardis was a time machine too and nodded, sitting down in a chair off to the side to stay out of the Doctor's way. It wasn't long though, before Rose came in, having changed as well.

"What do you think of this? Will it do?"

She wore jean overalls and a reddish shirt, looking at me, but I shrugged, having no idea. _I've never been to the 1900s, I don't think… so I wouldn't really know._ The Doctor walked past and went back to what he was doing.

"In the late 1970s? You'd be better off in a bin bag. Hold on, listen to this." He put a CD into the Tardis and music began to play. "Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Number one in 1979."

"You're a punk."

He ignored her and sang with the music. "It's good to be a lunatic."

"That's what you are." Rose went on. "A big ol' punk with a bit of rockabilly thrown in."

"Would you two like to see them?"

"How'd you mean? In concert?"

"What else is a Tardis for? I can take you to the Battle of Trafalgar, the first anti-gravity Olympics, Caesar crossing the Rubicon _or_ Ian Dury at the Top Rank, Sheffield, England, Earth, 21st November, 1979. What do you think?" He rambled off, having walked around the console at least twice in the process.

"Sounds good to me." I said, rather liking the song.

"Sheffield it is." Rose grinned.

"Hold on tight."

Rose and I grabbed a hold of something as the Tardis shook, though I felt like something was wrong, and it wasn't just the fact that it felt like riding in a car with the brakes still on. The Doctor didn't seem to care though, and pulled out a small hammer, hitting various things on the console to the rhythm of the song as Rose told him to stop. The Tardis did just that, throwing the three of us to the floor and leaving the two of them laughing whereas I was shaking a bit from the rough landing.

"I-I don't think she likes it when you do that." I mumbled, standing up as the Doctor waved me off.

"Ah, it's fine." He grinned, helping Rose up off the ground. "1979! Hell of a year. China invades Vietnam. The Muppet Movie. Love that film. Margaret Thatcher." He chuckled as he pulled on his coat, already at the door with the two of us. "Skylab falls to Earth, with a little help from me. Nearly took off my thumb. And I like my thumb. _Need_ my thumb. I'm very attached to…"

The three of us stepped out of the Tardis, only to find ourselves at rifle point and obviously _not_ at Sheffield.

"…my thumb." The Doctor finished as we held our hands up in surrender to the people in redcoats pointing their guns at us. " _1879_... same difference."

"A pretty _big_ difference." I muttered under my breath as the one soldier on a horse spoke.

"You will explain your presence… and the nakedness of this girl."

I looked over at Rose, who looked down at herself in confusion, before we were drawn back to the conversation at hand, the Doctor going high pitched and slightly Scottish.

"Are we in Scotland?"

"How can you be ignorant of that?"

The Doctor continued on in his Scottish accent. "Oh, I'm dazed and confused. I've been chasing this, this wee naked child over hill and over dale. Isn't that right, you timorous beastie."

"Oh, aye. I've been oot and aboot." Rose said in a horrible Scottish accent.

"No, don't do that." The Doctor said.

"Hoots mon."

"No, really, don't. Really."

"And you?" The man turned to me and I blinked, quickly coming up with a lie.

"I was out helpin' chase her down. I'm a friend of his." I replied with a decent Scottish accent, though I'm not sure how I managed to do it.

"Will you identify yourselves, sirs."

"I'm Doctor James McCrimmon from the… township of Balamory. I have my credentials, if I may."

The soldier nodded to him, giving him permission to take out his so called credentials, before turning to me.

"And you, sir?"

"His assistant, sir, Kris Conall." I answered. "He has my credentials too."

 _Or at least, I hope he does._ The Doctor gave me a nod, allowing me that slight relief as he held out… a blank sheet of paper. _I'm doomed._

"As you can see, a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. I trained under Doctor Bell himself." He then turned it around and pretended to flip the page before holding it out again. "And here's Kris's."

"Let them approach." A quiet English voice spoke from the carriage.

The soldier didn't turn away from us. "I don't think that's wise, ma'am."

"Let them approach." The person repeated.

The Doctor held a hand up in a shrug and the soldier seemed to sigh, before giving in.

"You will approach the carriage—"

The Doctor and Rose shared a small grin.

"—and show all due deference."

The Doctor saluted the man, before we approached the carriage, a suited man opening the door and allowing us view of the elder woman inside. The Doctor smiled, turning to us both.

"Rose, Kris, might I introduce her Majesty Queen Victoria. Empress of India and Defender of the Faith."

"Rose Tyler, ma'am." Rose said, giving a small curtsy before stifling a chuckle. "And my apologies for being so naked."

"I've had five daughters. It's nothing to me." Her Majesty said, glancing at me as I bowed, formally.

"Kris Conall, ma'am."

She eyed me as I stood upright again, as if she knew something, before turning to the Doctor. "Show me these credentials."

He passed her the paper and she looked it over, myself still being confused as to what they were seeing on the blank sheet.

"Why didn't you say so immediately? It states clearly here that you have been appointed by the Lord Provost as my Protector."

The Doctor took the offered paper back, looking at it a little confused. "Does it?"

 _So he can't see anything on it either?_

"Yes, it does. Good. Good." He said, though I could tell he didn't know what it said at all. "Then let me ask, why is Your Majesty traveling by road when there's a train all the way to Aberdeen?"

The woman looked rather disgruntled as well. "A tree on the line."

"An accident?"

Even I didn't look convinced of that.

"I am the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Everything around me tends to be planned."

"An assassination attempt?" I questioned, causing eyes to turn to me, though Rose looked worried.

"What, seriously? There's people out to kill you?"

"I'm quite used to staring down the barrel of a gun." She replied.

 _I don't doubt for a moment that she's been scared about doing so. You never fully get used to staring Death in the face._

"Sir Robert MacLeish lives but ten miles hence." The soldier on horseback told us. "We've sent word ahead. He'll shelter us for tonight, then we can reach Balmoral tomorrow."

"This Doctor, his _assistant_ , and his _timorous beastie_ will come with us." Queen Victoria said.

"Yes, ma'am. We better get moving. It's almost nightfall."

"Indeed and there are stories of _wolves_ in these parts." She said, though the Doctor just smiled with Rose. "Fanciful tales intended to scare the children. But good for the blood, I think." She turned to the front. "Drive on."

The door was closed and the three of us walked behind the carriage with the soldiers. Already though, I could feel my body tiring and I lagged behind a little as Rose spoke.

"It's funny though, because you say assassination and you just think of Kennedy and stuff. Not her."

"1879? She's had… ooh… six attempts on her life? And I'll tell you something else, we just met Queen Victoria!"

"I know!" Rose said excitedly, patting his arm.

"What a laugh!"

"H-Hilarious." I breathed out from behind them, though they paid no notice.

"She was just sittin' in there."

"Like a stamp."

"I want her to say—" Rose spoke in a nasally tongue. "'We are _not_ amused'. I bet you five quid I can get her to say it."

"Well, if I gambled on that, it'd be an abuse of my privileges of a traveler of time."

"…Ten quid?" Rose offered.

"Done. How ya doing back there, Kris?" The Doctor questioned, peeking over his shoulder at me as I frowned.

"Oh, I don't know… Let me stuff you in a pod, pump you full of chemicals, and then throw you out in 1879 and see how long you can walk."

"Ooh, touchy are we?"

I ignored the teasing expression and sighed. "What was with that paper anyway? I didn't see anything on it."

"You didn't? Hm, strange. It's a psychic paper. Says whatever you need to get places. Don't know why you didn't see anything. Might be one of those chemicals they gave you. The only other way would be psychic resistance."

 _Lovely._ I mentally grumbled as we approached a large home, most likely the place we were supposed to be staying. The large telescope coming out of the roof caught my interest though, and my thoughts were cast aside as Queen Victoria came out of her carriage and sent me a glance as I breathed heavily.

"Are you quite alright?"

The Doctor answered for me. "Sorry, Your Majesty. He was sick not too long back and isn't yet back in shape for that sort of walkin'."

"I see." She said, before turning her gaze towards the man who came from the house and bowed before her.

"Your Majesty."

"Sir Robert. My apologies for the emergency. And how is Lady Isobel?"

"She's… indisposed, I'm afraid. She's gone to Edinburgh for the season and she's taken the cook with her. The kitchens are barely stocked. I wouldn't blame Your Majesty if you wanted to ride on." He said, looking nervous and rather pale.

 _Is something wrong? He almost sounds like he's encouraging her to leave._ I mused, still trying to catch my breath. _I would think that housing someone like Queen Victoria, even for a night, would be an honor._

"Not at all. I've had quite enough carriage exercise and this is… charming, if rustic. It's my first visit to this house. My late husband spoke of it often. The Torchwood Estate." She smiled, looking pleased. "Now, shall we go inside? And, please excuse the naked girl."

"Sorry." Rose apologized, still looking pretty amused about being called naked.

"She's a feral child. I bought her for sixpence in old London Town. It was her or the Elephant Man, so…"

I held back a snicker as Rose gave them a look.

"Thinks he's funny, but I'm _so_ not amused. What do you think, ma'am?"

"It hardly matters." She said, turning back to Robert. "Shall we proceed?"

Everyone made to head inside, but I couldn't help but give Rose a small smile as she grumbled under her breath.

"So close."

"You'll get her next time, I'm sure."

She returned my small smile and we watched as the soldiers were given their orders and pulled a small box out of the carriage and into the house.

"So what's in there, then?" The Doctor asked.

"Property of the crown. You will dismiss any further thoughts, sir." The soldier on horseback said before giving out the rest of the orders and we headed inside.

I felt something was off though. The air here felt strange and I found it odd that all of the working staff of the Torchwood Estate were bald. An odd thought, I'm sure, but I had yet to see a maid around as well and I felt very on edge about something.

"I don't like this place." I muttered, overheard by the Doctor.

"Mm. It _is_ a bit bleak. Needs more color… or a shop. Always do like a good shop."

"You and your shops." Rose complained as we were led upstairs to where the telescope laid; something I was a little excited about.

"This, I take it, is the famous Endeavor."

"All my father's work. Built by hand in his final years. Became something of an obsession. He spent his money on this rather than caring for the house or himself."

"I wish I'd met him. I like him. That thing's beautiful. Can I, um?" The Doctor waved a hand towards the telescope.

"Help yourself."

Rose, the Doctor and I wandered over, I myself placing a hand on the sleek metal.

"What did he model it on?" The Doctor asked, looking it over.

"I know nothing about it. To be honest, most of us thought him a little, shall we say, eccentric."

The Doctor chuckled, though the man wasn't quite done.

"I wish now I'd spent more time with him and listened to his stories."

"It's a bit rubbish. How many prisms has it got? Way too many. The magnification's gone right over the top. That's stupid kind of—" He leaned over towards Rose. "—Am I bring rude again?"

"Yep."

"But it's pretty. It's very…pretty."

"It's lovely." I muttered, catching their attention. "The design is brilliant and the technology is amazing for its time." I peered through the scope and stood back upright again. "He must have been a great man. Smart too."

"And the imagination of it should be applauded." Queen Victoria said, heading over as I nodded.

"And I _do_ applaud."

"Mm, thought you might disapprove, Your Majesty." Rose said. "Stargazing. Isn't that a bit fanciful? You could easily not be amused, or something, no?"

The Doctor shook his head with a smile as Queen Victoria gave them a look.

"This device surveys the infinite work of God. What could be finer? Sir Robert's father was an example to us all. A polymath, steeped in astronomy and sciences, yet equally well versed in folklore and fairytales."

"Stars _and_ magic, huh? I like him more and more." The Doctor said as he leaned up against the telescope for a second before wandering off.

"Oh, my late husband enjoyed his company. Prince Albert himself was acquainted with many rural superstitions, coming as he did from Saxe Coburg." The Queen told Rose who hummed, looking lost.

"That's Bavaria." The Doctor whispered to her, having come up from behind her.

"When Albert was told about your local wolf, he was transported."

"So, what's this wolf then?"

"It's just a story." Robert replied.

"Then tell it."

He seemed nervous or frightened, hesitating to tell it and when he did, he was cut off by his servant immediately.

"It's said that—"

"Excuse me, sir. Perhaps her Majesty's party could retire to their rooms. It's almost dark."

"Of course. Yes, of course." Robert replied, though it felt like the room grew tenser.

"And then supper. And could we find some clothes for Miss Tyler? I'm tired of nakedness."

"It's not amusing, is it?" Rose tried again, making the Queen turn and send her a look before turning back to Robert, as her and the Doctor shared a smirk.

"Sir Robert, your wife must have left some clothes. See to it. We shall dine at seven and talk some more of this wolf. After all, there is a full moon tonight."

"So there is, ma'am." He bowed and we all left the room.

I sat in my room for some time after that, bored to death as I laid back on the bed, before I headed to the window. What I saw below had me worried though, because I was in sight of a few of the Queen's guards and I had just witness them being attacked by the servants. _Not good._ I quickly put my scarf back on—having discarded it upon entering the room—and headed down the hall in search of the Doctor. Finding a maid and Rose being attacked by two of the servants wasn't what I was looking for though, and I quickly charged in to help, hitting one of the men hard across the jaw and going for the other, only for him to have some serious martial arts skills and hit me hard in the stomach.

As I tried to counter, I was knocked off my feet and the other man came up behind me and slammed something hard against my head, the last thing I heard being Rose's cry.

"Kris!"

* * *

The Doctor, the Queen, Robert, and the soldier (Reynolds) sat around a dining table waiting for Rose and Kris to show up, only for one of the butlers to walk in with a tray and a glass.

"Your companions beg an apology, Doctor. The one's clothing has somewhat delayed her and the other claims that he is not feeling well." He said, moving around to the other side of the table as the Doctor licked his finger off.

"Oh, that's alright. Save her a wee bit of ham and him as well."

"The feral child could probably eat it raw." The Queen joked, earning some overzealous laughter from Reynolds.

"Very wise, ma'am. Very witty."

"Slightly witty, perhaps." She said, giving him a look. "I know you rarely get the chance to dine with me, Captain, but don't get too excited. I shall contain my wit, in case I do you further injury."

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am."

"Besides, we're all waiting on Sir Robert. " The Doctor piped up, tossing his napkin down. "Come, sir. You promised us a tale of nightmares."

"Indeed. Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction."

"You must miss him." The Doctor said, softly.

"Very much." She replied, voice breaking as she went on. "Oh, completely. And that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it? Not the scares and chills, that's just for children, but the hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want _some_ message from that place. It's the Creator's greatest mystery that we're allowed no such consolation… The dead stay silent, and we must wait…" She let out a breath, composing herself. "Come. Begin your tale, Sir Robert. There's a chill in the air. The wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters."

* * *

I woke up with a headache and a ringing in my head, voices shouting in my mind.

" _You can't leave! What will she do if they find us?!"_

" _You'll be alright, my love. The watch protects her. No one will know."_

" _Y-You… How can you be so sure? You said this has never happened before. If anyone finds out—"_

" _Sh. They approach. You must take her and go."_

" _But I am weak. If they catch us—"_

" _They won't. I will make sure of that. Now go. Take Kris. Take my little broken angel and wait for me."_

"—ris. Kris, are you alright?"

I groaned, cradling my head with a hand and only then noticing the chains hanging from them, making my breath shorten.

"Kris, Kris, hey. Look at me. It's alright, well, sort of."

I recognized the voice and looked over to find Rose sitting there in a similar situation as mine, and it was then that I remembered what happened.

"Oh, I _knew_ it was strange that they were all bald." I complained.

"Really? That's what tipped you off?" Rose questioned with a raised brow. "How hard did they hit you?"

"Not hard enough."

Grumbling, I looked around, seeing a group of maids and a couple of other servants huddled around us, also in chains. Then, I saw what they were cowering from and furrowed my brows at the young man sitting in a cage in front of us.

"I get the feeling that I missed something."

"You're not the only one."

"Don't make a sound." One of the women said, Robert's wife was my guess. "They said if we scream or shout, then he will slaughter us."

"But he's in a cage. He's a prisoner. He's the same as us." Rose countered.

"He's nothing like us." She said, shaking her head. "That creature is not mortal."

The man opened his eyes to reveal pitch black irises, the people around us cowering and looking away, but I just looked at him, confused… and a bit curious.

* * *

"The story goes back three hundred years. Every full moon, the howling rings through the valley. The next morning, livestock is found ripped apart and de… devoured." Robert said, the Doctor watching him closely.

"Tales like this just disguise the work of thieves. Steal a sheep and blame a wolf, simple as that." Reynolds said, trying to look tough for the Queen.

"But sometimes a child goes missing. Once in a generation, a boy will vanish from his homestead."

* * *

Rose stood up, the woman warning her.

"Don't, child."

I got up as well, backing her up as the two of us moved closer; as far as the chains would let us.

"Who are you?" Rose asked, sounding nervous and frightened.

"Don't enrage him." A man from behind us said as I sat back down on the straw covered floor and Rose followed.

"You're different, aren't you?" I questioned. "Like you don't belong here."

"Oh, intelligence." The man said slowly as Rose spoke up this time.

"Where were you born?"

"This body? Ten miles away. A weakling, heartsick boy, stolen away at night by the brethren for my cultivation." His voice grew deeper, more menacing. "I carved out his soul and sat in his heart."

* * *

"Are there descriptions of this creature?" The Doctor questioned, growing more and more curious.

"Oh, yes, Doctor. Drawings and woodcarvings. And it's not merely a wolf. It's more than that. This is a man who becomes an animal."

"A werewolf?" The Doctor leaned forward, excitedly.

* * *

"Alright. So the body's human… But what about you? The thing inside?"

"So far from home." It whined.

"If you want to get back home, we can help."

"Why would I leave this place? A world of industry, of workforce and warfare. I could turn it to such purpose."

 _Fire. Fire filled my vision as a planet burned, bright reds and orange._ I winced, bringing a hand to my head as Rose went on.

"How would you do that?"

"I would migrate to the Holy Monarch."

"You mean Queen Victoria?"

 _Great. Just what we need. An alien queen._ I thought with a roll of my eyes, though my mind seemed to actually consider the notion. _I wonder what that would be like._

"With one bite, I would pass into her blood and then it begins. The Empire of the Wolf. Many questions." He suddenly lunged forward, making me flinch and everyone else scoot back in fear. "Look. Inside your eyes. You've seen it too."

"Seen what?"

"The Wolf. There is something of the Wolf about you."

Even I was lost at that.

"I don't know what you mean." Rose said.

"You burnt like the sun, but all I require is the moon."

* * *

"My father didn't treat it as a story. He said it was fact. He even claimed to have communed with the beast, to have learned its purpose. I should have listened. His work was hindered. He made enemies. There's a monastery in the Glen of Saint Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations." Robert said, looking over his shoulder slightly at the monk who wandered over to the window and began muttering under his breath.

"Perhaps they thought his work ungodly."

"That's what _I_ thought. But now I wonder." Robert looked over at the man again, the Doctor following his gaze. "What if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet? What if they turned from God and worshiped the wolf?"

The Doctor understood then and sat up, eyes sharp. "And what if they were with us right now?"

* * *

The door to the room was opened, allowing the moonlight to filter in and I quickly began tugging Rose back with the others.

"Rose, get back."

"What? Why?"

I kept my eyes locked on the man as he leaned towards the light happily.

"Moonlight." He hummed, as I frowned.

"Remember what he said. 'All I require is the moon'. The moon is his source of power."

The man removed his cloak as the wind picked up and she realized the severity of the situation.

"All of you! Stop lookin' at it! Flora, don't look." Rose said, speaking to the maid I had first seen her with, as she stood. "Listen to me. Grab hold of the chain and pull!"

I caught onto her idea and nodded, helping the others up as well. "You heard her, pull!"

Some of us began pulling, but not everyone. They were too fixated on the transforming man behind us, so Rose got their attention.

"I said pull! Stop your whining and listen to me! All of you! And that means you, your Ladyship. Now, come on. Pull!"

* * *

Everyone had stood at that point and Reynolds had his gun out as they shouted.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"Explain yourself, Sir Robert!"

"What's happening?"

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. They've got my wife."

"Rose! Where's Rose?! Where's Kris?! Where are they?!" The Doctor quickly guessed where they were and ran out of the room, leaving Reynolds with his gun trained on the monk at the window. "Sir Robert, come on!"

"Tell me, sir!" Reynolds ordered. "I demand to know your intention!"

The monk continued his chanting.

"What is it that you want?!"

He suddenly stopped, turning around. "The throne."

He then disarmed Reynolds and threw him to the ground. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Robert ran down a corridor in the hopes of making it to Rose, Kris and the others in time.

* * *

"One, two, three, pull!" Rose chanted, before she fell back, the chain having come off the wall.

It was just then that the Doctor and Robert burst through the door.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Rose shouted at him as I breathed heavily beside her, also not pleased with the Doctor.

"Really now! Roberts was practically spelling it out for us the moment we got here!" I shouted as well, earning a small nod from Roberts before he went to grab his wife.

The Doctor though, was more focused on the werewolf in the cage trying to break free.

"Oh, that's beautiful."

"Only until it rips your head off!" I told him as it started to break free of the cage.

"Out, out, out, out, out!" He called out then, helping a little in getting the servants out.

I still caught him staring at the beast with admiration though and sighed, before grabbing his arm and tugging him out as well. Thankfully, he had his sonic screwdriver with him and locked the door behind us. At least, I think that's what he did. We hurried down the hall then and the steward began handing out guns before ordering Isobel to get the women out of here. The Doctor set about removing the shackles from the servants and Rose and I as he started speaking very quickly.

"It could be any form of light modulated species triggered by specific wavelengths. Did it say what it wanted?"

"The Queen, the Crown, the throne. You name it." Rose responded.

A loud crash echoed from down the hall and the Doctor quickly ran off to go check it out, with me right on his heels.

"Stay with Rose."

I shook my head. "No."

He looked at me in slight surprise as I rubbed the back of my neck.

"I, uh, don't really want to admit this, but… I didn't get a good look before. I want to see it." _God, that blow to my head really messed me up, didn't it?_

He started to smile, but another crash made him stop. "Alright. But stay close."

We both got to the end of the hall and peered around the corner, stepping out and stopping as we saw the beast in all its glory at the end of the passageway.

"My God, you're right." I muttered quietly.

"'Bout what?"

"It's beautiful…" I don't know what possessed me to say such words of something that would most surly kill us, but I didn't have time to think that through before the beast snarled at us and gnashed its teeth, making the Doctor and I stiffen before he grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall and back into the room.

He then grabbed Rose and pulled her and me behind the line of men who began firing rifles at the beast, sending it back down the hall. Once the men ceased fire, the Doctor began barking orders once more.

"Alright, you men. We should retreat upstairs. Come with me."

"I'll not retreat." The steward said, turning around angrily. "The battle's done. There's no creature on God's Earth that could survive such an assault."

"That's because he's not from Earth." I grumbled under my breath, unheard.

"I'm telling you, come upstairs!" The Doctor shouted as the man made his way back into the corridor.

"And I'm telling you, sir, I will sleep well tonight with that thing's hide upon my wall." He walked down a bit further, before coming back with a grin. "He must have crawled away to die."

Just as he said that though, he was hoisted upwards by the wolf, making me start to go towards him, but the Doctor held me back.

"There's nothing we can do!"

I reluctantly allowed him to herd Rose and me upstairs as the men behind us stayed and fired round after round, Robert trailing after us as well. Once we'd moved towards the staircase, the Doctor locked another door behind us and the Queen came down the stairs.

"Your Majesty? Your Majesty!"

"Sir Robert? What's happening? I heard such terrible noises."

"Your Majesty, we've got to get out. But what of Father Angelo? Is he still here?"

"Captain Reynolds disposed of him."

 _Then where is he?_ I mentally questioned, not thoroughly convinced of what she was saying as the Doctor hurried back over after checking the front door.

"The front door's no good. It's been boarded shut. Pardon me, your Majesty. You'll have to leg it out of a window."

The Doctor held out a hand, allowing us all to go into the drawing room first, where Robert spoke.

"Excuse my manners, ma'am, but I shall go first, the better to assist Her Majesty's egress."

"A noble sentiment, my Sir Walter Raleigh."

"Yeah, any chance you could hurry up?" The Doctor questioned, now not being the time to discuss things.

Gunshots went off then, Robert ducking away as the Doctor rushed forward to spot the three monks outside the window with rifles.

"I reckon the monkey boys want us to stay inside." The Doctor muttered.

"Do they know who I am?"

"Yeah, that's why they want you." Rose said, looking a bit worried. "The wolf's lined you up for a… a biting."

"Stop this talk. There can't be an actual wolf."

A loud howl echoed around the building, causing us all to launch to our feet and hurry back out into the corridor to where the wolf was starting to break the door down.

"What do we do?" Rose questioned.

"We run."

"That your answer for everything?" I questioned, making him glance over at me.

"You got any silver bullets?"

I frowned. "I don't like guns."

He smiled. "Good. There we are then, we run. Your Majesty, as a Doctor, I recommend a vigorous jog. Good for the health. Come on!"

He took her hand and started leading us up the staircase as we heard the door break down and the wolf coming up after us. We continued running down a corridor, hearing the wolf right behind us—which was bad news for me, being in the back—and just when I thought I wouldn't make it, I was hit across the shoulder and knocked down, just as a gunshot went off and the wolf ran back down the hall.

"Kris! Are you alright?"

I quickly scuttled back around the corner where they all were, a hand clenched tightly over a wound on my upper arm as I grit my teeth.

"I'd be better if I wasn't stuck in the back of the line." I complained, gritting my teeth. "I'm still a slow runner right now."

Reynolds cleared his throat to interrupt us as he reloaded. "I'll take this position and hold it. You keep moving, for God's sake!" He said loudly, upon seeing us all stopped to catch our breath. "Your Majesty, I went to look for the property and it was taken. The chest was empty."

"I have it. It's safe." She replied, the rest of us lost, though I was more focused on ignoring the ache from my wound once the Doctor looked it over.

"Then remove yourself, ma'am. Doctor, Kris, you stand as her Majesty's Protectors. And you, Sir Robert… you're a traitor to the crown."

"Bullets can't stop it!" The Doctor said, keeping Reynolds from probably shooting Robert there.

"Then I'll buy you time. Now run!"

Rose and I hesitated, but we followed after the others, only to pause in the doorway to a study of some sort. Reynolds stood at the end of the corridor and fired off a few shots before he was attacked by the wolf. I struggled to look away and shove Rose towards the Doctor inside the room, walking in after her as Robert shut the doors.

"Barricade the door."

Rose grabbed a chair and put it in front of the door as the rest of us began stacking other objects in front of it as well; I, myself, ignoring my wound for now, despite the blood dripping down my arm. Once we finished, the Doctor hushed us, the wolf howling but not attacking.

"It stopped." The Doctor said, climbing on top of the objects in front of the door to listen to the other side. "It's gone."

Rose still looked worried and I could understand why. "Listen."

The wolf seemed to be walking around the room.

"Is this the only door?" I asked, voice quiet.

"Yes." Robert said, before seeming to realize something. "No!"

Him, the Doctor, and I ran towards the other door and barricaded that one as well, before Rose shushed us again and we listened.

I frowned, a little confused. "It broke down the doors before, what's stopping it now? Something in the room?"

The Doctor nodded. "Quite possibly." He said, walking around as Robert sat with a hand over his eyes. "I don't understand. Why can't it get in?"

"I'll tell you what though." Rose said.

"What?"

"Werewolf?" She said with a smirk, making the Doctor grin excitedly.

"I know!"

I rolled my eyes as they hugged and the Doctor held her at arm's length.

"You alright?"

"I'm okay, yeah." She turned to me then. "God, but Kris isn't."

"Yeah, no, don't mind me." I said, waving my good hand about. "Go enjoy yourselves talking about your pretty little beastie."

"Oh, come on now, Kris!" The Doctor whined, helping me over to the desk as I sat down on it and let him peel the sleeve of my shirt up once I'd removed my coat and scarf. "We're just having a little bit of fun."

"Yeah, well, hard to have fun when you get attacked by a werewolf and hit over the head. I'm starting to think I'm just unlucky."

I winced as he pressed a tender spot on the back of my head.

"Oh, you're not unlucky! I mean, look! You found Rose and me, right? Gotta give you some credit there." He winked, tearing a part of the curtain in the room and coming back over to wrap my arm with it. "Besides! Maybe that hit did something to jog your memory."

"Or change your personality." Rose said, smirking.

"Hm?"

I sighed as the Doctor tied off the makeshift bandage. "I got excited about something trying to kill me and though it strange that all of the servants when we came here were bald. Between that and the voices in my head shouting about some watch, maybe I _was_ bonkers before I lost everything."

"A watch?"

I raised a brow at the Doctor, but before I could explain more, Robert spoke up.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." He apologized to the Queen. "It's all my fault… I should have sent you away. I tried to suggest something was wrong. I thought you might notice. Did you think there was nothing strange about my household staff?"

"Like Kris said, they were all bald and athletic. Your wife's away, I just thought you were happy." The Doctor shrugged.

"I'll tell you what though, ma'am. I bet you're not amused now."

"Do you think this is funny?" She snapped.

"No, ma'am. I'm sorry."

"What, exactly, I pray tell me, someone, please. What exactly is that creature?"

"You'd call it a werewolf, but technically it's more of a lupine wavelength haemovariform."

"I should I trust _you_ , sir? You who change your voice so easily? What happened to your accent?"

"Oh right, sorry, that's—"

"And your so called assistant who not only changes his voice, but is also a woman?"

I cringed. "Thought she figured something out…"

"I'll not have it. No, sir. Not you, not her, not that _thing_ , none of it. This is _not_ my world."

Everyone grew quiet after that, not wanting to argue further with the Queen, and the Doctor set about checking out a carving on the door while the rest of us sat around.

"Hey, Doctor?" I called out. "Quick question."

"What's that?"

"I'm not going to turn into a werewolf too, right?" I asked, only slightly worried. "As cool as it'd be, I don't care for fur."

"Nah." He said, touching the carving. "You only got hit by his claw. I'd be more worried about you passing out from blood loss, though I've managed to stop the bleeding for now. Wouldn't recommend anything extensive for a while, until we can get it patched up in the Tardis."

"Good to know."

"Mistletoe…" He muttered, turning to Robert. "Sir Robert, did your father put that there?"

"I don't know. I suppose." He said, holding his hands up in a shrug as the Doctor looked over at the other door.

"On the other door, too. No, a carving wouldn't be enough… I wonder."

The Doctor got back up onto the barricade blocking the door and did something… strange. He _licked_ it.

"Viscum album, the oil of the mistletoe. It's been worked into the wood like a varnish. How clever was your dad?! I _love_ him! Powerful stuff, mistletoe. Bursting with lectins and viscotoxins."

"And the wolf's allergic to it?" Rose questioned.

"Well, it thinks it is. The monkey monk monks need a way of controlling the wolf, maybe they trained it to react against certain things."

"Nevertheless, that creature won't give up, Doctor, and we still don't possess an actual weapon."

"Oh, your father got all the brains, didn't he?"

"Being rude again."

"Good. I meant that one. You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world." He put on a set of glasses. "This room's the greatest arsenal we could have." Grabbing a set of books, he tossed them to Rose and another set to myself "Arm yourself."

I smiled, brushing a hand over the cover of the book in my hand. "Oh, how I love books."

The Doctor turned to me with a grin. "Do you? Another piece of yourself coming back then? That's good though! I should show you the library in the Tardis."

I looked up, excited. "There's one in the Tardis?"

"Oh, you bet! Huge one! Full of books. Full of _knowledge_. There's even a swimming pool."

"In the library?"

"Oi!"

The two of us turned to Rose as she gave us an annoyed look.

"Are you two done? Last I checked, we were in the middle of something important."

"Right, sorry."

I bowed my head a bit, going to search through the book. The group of us weren't finding much though. We all talked over each other—except me, I stayed quiet—and went through book after book until the Doctor caught our attention.

"Ooh." He hopped down from his place on a step ladder and walked over to the desk behind me, placing the book down. "Look what your old dad found. Something fell to Earth."

"A spaceship?"

I looked over the book curiously, still new to the whole time and space travel.

"A shooting star. 'In the year of our Lord 1540, under the reign of King James the Fifth, an almighty fire did burn in the pit'." Robert read. "That's the Glen of Saint Catherine just by the monastery."

"That's over three hundred years ago." I muttered.

"What's it been waiting for?"

"Maybe just a single cell survived. Adapting slowly down the generations, it survived _through_ the humans, host after host after host." The Doctor explained to Rose and the rest of us.

"But why does it want the throne?"

"That's what it wants. It said so. The…"

"The Empire of the Wolf." I finished, remembering what the wolf had said.

"Imagine it. The Victorian Age accelerated. Starships and missiles fueled by coal and driven by steam… leaving history devastated in its wake."

"Sir Robert." The Queen suddenly spoke up, standing from her place. "If I am to die here—"

"Don't say that, Your Majesty." He cut her off.

"I would destroy myself rather than let that _creature_ infect me. But that's no matter. I ask only that you find some place of safekeeping for something far… older and more precious than myself."

"Hardly the time to worry about your valuables." The Doctor quipped.

"Thank you for your opinion, but there is _nothing_ more valuable than this." She reached into her purse and pulled out a large diamond, about the size of her palm.

"Is that the Koh-I-Noor?"

"The what?" I questioned, lost, though some part of my mind tingled as though it knew what it was and just couldn't pass the information on.

"Oh, yes. The greatest diamond in the world."

"Given to me as the spoils of war." The Queen explained as we came closer. "Perhaps its legend is now coming true. It is said that whoever owns it must surely die."

"Well, that's true of anything if you own it long enough. Can I?"

The Doctor reached out and the Queen handed it over, allowing him to observe it.

"That is so beautiful."

"How much is that worth?"

"They say the wages of the entire planet for a whole week." He told Rose.

"Good job my mum's not here. She'd be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for that thing."

"And she'd win."

The two of them chuckled, but at the mention of Rose's mother, my chest clenched, much like the feeling of sorrow or fear, but I couldn't figure out why.

"Where is the wolf? I don't trust this silence." Robert muttered, walking away to check the room no doubt.

"Why do you travel with it?" The Doctor asked, curious.

"My annual pilgrimage. I'm taking it to Helier and Carew, the Royal Jewellers at Hazelhead. The stone needs re-cutting."

"Oh, but it's perfect."

"My late husband never thought so."

"Now, there's a fact. Prince Albert kept on having the Koh-I-Noor cut down. It used to be forty percent bigger than this. But he was never happy. Kept on cutting and cutting." Explained the Doctor as we all looked over the diamond some more.

"He always said… the shine was not quite right. But he died with it still unfinished."

"Unfinished…" The Doctor realized something then, though what I couldn't tell you, and he tossed the diamond back to the Queen, who caught it; shocked. "Oh, yes. There's a lot of unfinished business in this house. His father's research, and your husband, ma'am, he came here and he sought the perfect diamond. Hold on, hold on. All these separate things, they're not separate at all, they're connected! Oh, my head, my head! What if this house, it's a trap for you. Is that right, ma'am?" He spouted quickly after messing up his hair and pacing a bit.

"Obviously."

"At least, that's what the wolf intended. _But_ , what if there's a trap inside the trap?"

"Explain yourself, Doctor."

"What if his father and your husband weren't just telling each other stories. They dared to imagine all this was true, and they planned against it, laying the real trap not for you but for the wolf."

"So, they knew this was going to happen and planned for it." I muttered, the Doctor turning to me with a finger pointed my way.

"Right! They wanted to trick it, maybe even get rid of it. Oh, they're clever!"

Just then, some dust flitted down from the ceiling and I looked up to see the wolf up above us on the glass dome.

"Uh, Doctor?"

He looked up as well. "That wolf there."

The glass began cracking and we all quickly ran towards the barricaded doors.

"Out! Out! Out!" The Doctor shouted, all of us grabbing things from in front of the door and tossing them aside as the wolf fell down and landed on the desk.

Once outside, the Doctor closed the doors and we all hurried down the hall to get away from the beast.

"Get to the observatory!" He shouted from behind us, before pulling ahead.

Rose was in the back this time and the wolf right behind her, so when she paused and started to scream, the wolf mere inches from her, I doubled back and grabbed her just as water was thrown on the wolf, stopping it for some reason.

"Good shot!" The Doctor complimented as I tried to calm my breathing down, my hands still on Rose's upper arms.

"Thanks, Kris." She breathed out as I released her.

"R-Right."

The Doctor, Rose and I hurried to the end of the hall to check for the wolf as Robert and his wife had their moment, before we hurried back and rounded the corner; the maids having returned to downstairs.

"Come on!"

"The observatory's this way."

We hurriedly ran up the stairs and went into the observatory, the Doctor quickly speaking to Robert.

"No mistletoe in these doors because your father wanted the wolf to get inside. I just need time. Is there any way of barricading this?"

"Just do your work and I'll defend it." Robert said, still standing outside the doors.

The Doctor didn't get what he was implying. "If we could bind them shut with rope or something."

"I _said_ I'd find you time, sir. Now get inside." He repeated, the Doctor growing serious before finally speaking.

"Good man."

He closed the door, leaving Rose to stare at it in shock, before going over to the Queen with his hand out. "Your Majesty, the diamond."

"For what purpose?"

"The purpose it was designed for."

The door clicked as Robert locked it from the outside and the Queen handed the Doctor the diamond before he called to the two of us.

"Rose, Kris."

We hurried over and he grabbed a rung of a large wheel.

"Lift it. Come on."

Rose and I grabbed a hold as well, straining ourselves to turn it, reopening my wound in the process.

"Is this the right time for stargazing?" Rose grunted.

"Yes it is."

"O-Oh." I said, finally understanding what was going to happen. "The moonlight."

The Doctor smirked at me. "Good job, Kris. You caught on."

"Caught on to what?" Rose questioned.

We heard screaming outside and shared brief glances, but continued to turn the wheel.

"You said this thing doesn't work."

"Not as a telescope." I grunted, causing the Doctor to nod.

"It doesn't work as a telescope because that's not what it is. It's a light chamber. It magnifies the light rays like a weapon. We've just got to power it up."

"It won't work. There's no electricity!"

The Doctor gave her a look, trying to get her to catch on, and thankfully she did. "Moonlight. But the wolf _needs_ moonlight. It's made by moonlight."

"You're seventy percent water but you can still drown. Come on!"

We were doing good and nearly had it in the right position, but I could feel my arm starting to give out and my vision beginning to get a little fuzzy.

"Come on!" The Doctor pushed and I struggled more to try and turn the wheel.

We finally got it in the right position before the werewolf broke down the door and stood before the frightened Queen, the light not quite reaching the beast. Thankfully, the Doctor was quick on his feet and hurried over, sliding the diamond along the floor into the moon light, reflecting it onto the wolf. The breast roared and floated in the air, returning to the young man it was before, crucified by the moonlight.

"Make it brighter. Let me go." He begged, and the Doctor did just that, until the man disappeared with a howl.

The Queen though, seemed distracted by something on her wrist, making myself and the Doctor a little concerned.

"Your Majesty?" I questioned, followed by the Doctor.

"Did it bite you?"

"No, it's… it's a cut, that's all."

"If that thing bit you—"

"It was a splinter of wood when the door came apart. It's nothing."

"Let me see." The Doctor asked, reaching for her wrist, but she quickly hid it, making me even more suspicious than I already was.

"It is nothing."

We said nothing more about the subject and as the dawn arose, we made our preparations to leave, I myself having had quite enough running for a good time to come and wished to be back in the familiar Tardis once more. We couldn't leave just yet though and were currently down on one knee before Her Majesty as she spoke.

"By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee Sir Doctor of Tardis." She tapped the Doctors shoulders with a sword, moving down to Rose. "By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee Dame Rose of the Powell Estate." She did the same to her, before going to me. "By the power invested in my by the Church and the State, I dub thee _Dame_ Kris of Tardis." She said, tapping my shoulders as well. "You may stand."

"Many thanks, ma'am."

"Thanks. They're never going to believe this back home."

"I appreciate your kindness." I formally replied after the Doctor and Rose.

"Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving no message from the great beyond… I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now, ma'am, from beyond the grave." The Doctor said softly.

"Indeed. Then you may think on this, also. That I am _not_ amused."

"Yes!" Rose quietly cheered, having finally got her wishes, though the Queen wasn't yet finished.

"Not _remotely_ amused. And henceforth… I banish you."

It took us all a moment to comprehend that, the Doctor catching on the quickest after myself as I sighed.

"I'm sorry?"

"I rewarded you, Sir Doctor, and now you are _exiled_ from this empire, never to return." She took a step forward, not happy in the slightest. "I don't know what you are, the three of you, or where you're from, but I know that you consort with stars and magic and think it fun. But your world is steeped in terror and blasphemy and death, and I will _not_ allow it. You will leave this shores and you will reflect, I hope, on how you came to stray so far from all that is good, and how much longer you will survive this _terrible_ life." She stepped back then, all of us having gone silent at her scolding. "Now leave my world, and _never_ return."

I bowed, knowing that there was deep truth in her words and the three of us headed out, managing to hitch a ride from a man riding by with a small cart of hay.

"Whoa!"

"Cheers, Dougal!" The Doctor called out, having quickly gotten over being scolded earlier; Dougal driving off.

"No, but the funny thing is, Queen Victoria did actually suffer a mutation of the blood. It's historical record. She was haemophiliac. They used to call it the Royal Disease. But it's always been a mystery because she didn't inherit it. Her mum didn't have it, her dad didn't have it. It came from nowhere."

"What, and you're saying that's a wolf bite?" Rose questioned, making him take in a breath through his teeth.

"Well, maybe haemophilia is just a Victorian euphemism."

"For werewolf?"

"Could be."

"Queen Victoria's a werewolf?"

"Could be. _And_ her children had the Royal Disease. Maybe she gave them a quick nip."

"So, the Royal Family are werewolves?"

"Well, maybe not _yet_. I mean, a single wolf cell could take… a hundred years to mature. Might be ready by, oh… early 21st century?"

"Nah, that's just ridiculous! Mind you, Princess Anne."

"I'll say no more."

"And if you think about it, they're very private. They plan everything in advance. They could schedule themselves around the moon! We'd never know! And they like hunting! They _love_ blood sports. Oh my God, they're werewolves!"

"I feel a bit left out on this." I mentioned, not really having any idea what they had been talking about the whole way back to the Tardis, who gave a nice hum upon our return.

"You've got to go catch up on your history then, Kris! Here, I'll show you the library! That way you can get started!"

Or so he said, but the library was so large, that I doubted that I would get much further than maybe a few years of history before I drowned in the sea of books. I had to admit though, the place was beautiful—even with the swimming pool—and I eagerly began grabbing books to study up, feeling like a child with how much I wanted to learn. To remember. To understand. Especially since my memories were slowly trickling back. The watch, the man and woman, the child that could only have been me. There was a mystery behind myself and I couldn't wait to try and figure it out. After all, the Face of Boe _did_ call me a time traveler. I had to figure out what he meant by that. Though, I would soon come to regret that decision.


	3. Chapter 3: School Reunion

I grinned to myself, glad at where I was sitting right now and the job that the Doctor managed to get me at this school we were checking out. I had never been to school when I was younger, according to what little memories I was getting back. All I could remember was reading a lot of books and sitting on the lap of a man as he told me about different things, though _what_ he was telling me was still a bit jumbled up in my head. I _did_ , however, occasionally read something in a book that sparked a surge of information about that subject that I already knew. The first time it happened, it was strange at how flashes of math had seemingly flashed before my eyes and I realized as I skimmed through the book that nothing about it was new anymore. I already knew it all.

I asked the Doctor about it, but he just smiled and said that it was good that I was getting memories back, before he encouraged me to read more books. I had begun to feel bad though, because it seemed like every time I spoke with him or Rose, that they would somehow split off from the conversation and converse about something together that I wasn't able to follow. I told him about the dream I had with the watch once and Rose had then mentioned how her father used to have one and from there the Doctor joined in and they started discussing Rose's mother—who was apparently very intimidating. I had never met this person before, so I couldn't join in on their conversation or anything, and ended up just going back to the library, downtrodden, with only the worried hum of the Tardis to keep me company.

My smile fell as I set down the book I was reading on the desk and pulled my reading glasses off my face, eyes scanning across the empty school library. No one seemed to even come in here for anything, which I found odd, and the empty room only seemed to echo my loneliness. I let out a sigh, tucking the glasses—a gift from the Doctor when he caught me squinting at pages once—into my shirt pocket as the lunch bell rang. I picked up the book and put it back in its proper place on the shelves, starting to get bored with how many books I've already read, and began my walk to the canteen. I ruffled my hair with a small frown, not looking forward to whatever greasy food they would be serving in the canteen today and silently question if there were any books I _haven't_ read. _I'm nearly through the entire school library with only a shelf left that I haven't checked and, even with how large the Doctor's library is, I think I'm about a third the way through it already. I'm getting bored._

I picked up a tray to get food, waiting in line with the rest of the staff and students and grimacing at the slop they put on my plate before I went to take a seat next to the Doctor at a table.

"Hello, Kris! How's the library?"

"I've already read just about everything." I muttered, poking at the chips on my plate with my fork.

"Already?"

I gave him a look. "No. I've _already_ read everything."

He seemed to understand then. "Ah, right. Memory thing. Hm, odd though, you already having read so much. But then again, it is a high school library. It's not surprising."

"I've never been to high school." I told him, making him frown in thought just as Rose came over, looking angry as she wiped down the table we were at.

She had gotten the unlucky job of being a dinner lady while we were here, though the whole reason we were here in the first place was because of her boyfriend, Mickey. He was the one who thought something was up with the school and called Rose to get us down here. I didn't mind him. He was pleasant enough, though not exactly the brightest bulb in the box at times, but with the Doctor around everyone seemed a bit slow.

"Two days." Rose grumbled.

"Sorry, could you just? There's a bit of gravy." The Doctor gestured to a spot on the table that Rose went to clean. "No, no, just, just there."

She had missed, apparently.

"Two days, we've been here." She complained.

"Blame your boyfriend. He's the one who put us onto this. And he was right. Boy in class this morning, got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth."

"And no one's in the library." I mumbled, sadly, earning two odd looks. "What? There's always one person in a library to study for something. Here, there's no one."

Rose rolled her eyes, before gesturing to the Doctor's plate. "You eating those chips?"

"Yeah, they're a bit…different." He said as she snatched one off his plate.

"I think they're _gorgeous_. Wish I had school dinners like this."

I shoved my plate towards her, sighing. "If you really want some, you can have mine. I apparently don't care for chips."

"Mm, thanks."

"It's very well behaved, this place." The Doctor said, looking around and folding his arms over his chest.

"Mmm."

"I thought there'd be happy slapping hoodies. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones. Huh? Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't tell me I don't fit in."

Rose smiled a bit as I rolled my eyes, feeling left out once more, though I knew what ringtones were, ASBOs and hoodies were words I hadn't the slightest clue about. _Though I think I read about hoodies somewhere. Aren't they some sort of jacket? But that doesn't sound right, the way the Doctor used it._

"You are not permitted to leave your station during a sitting." The head dinner lady scolded Rose, having come over while I was thinking and making Rose stand and gesture to my plate.

"I was just talking to the librarian."

I waved lazily.

"She doesn't like the chips."

The woman glared at me, making me frown at Rose, as _I_ now got lectured.

"The menu has been _specifically_ designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance. Now, get back to work."

"See? This is me. Dinner lady." Rose complained.

"I'll have the crumble." The Doctor joked as she walked off.

"I'm so going to kill you."

"Not if I do it first." I muttered, earning a grin from the Doctor just as another teacher walked in and began speaking with a student sitting at the table across from us.

"Melissa. You'll be joining my class for the next period. Milo's failed me, so it's time we moved you up to the top class. Kenny, not eating the chips?"

"I'm not allowed."

"Luke. Extra class. Now."

The student got up and left with him, but I felt something was wrong, though I couldn't quite figure out what. The Doctor though was watching the headmaster upstairs, the man overlooking everything like a hawk. Lunch was soon over though, and the headmaster had everyone gather in the staff room for some sort of meeting, so I reluctantly left my books and went in with the Doctor as he spoke with another man about the strangeness of the school, one of the more normal ones

"Yesterday, I had a twelve year old girl give me the exact height of the Walls of Troy in cubits."

"And, it's ever since the new headmaster arrived?" The Doctor questioned the man, chewing on some chips from the canteen.

"Finch arrived three months ago. Next day, half the staff got flu. Finch replaced them with that lot—" He nodded slightly over at a group of teacher behind us. "—except for the teacher you replaced and the librarian, and that was just plain weird. The teacher winning the lottery like that and the librarian winning a cruise to the Caribbean for three months."

"How's that weird?"

"She never played. Said the ticket was posted through her door at midnight. Same with the librarian."

"Hmm." The Doctor ate another chip, looking unconcerned. "The world is very strange."

 _That's because_ you _were the one to give them those tickets, idiot._ I thought, giving him a look to which he winked.

"Excuse me, colleagues. A moment of your time." The headmaster said, finally showing up for the so-called meeting, though I blinked at the woman at his side. "May I introduce Miss Sarah Jane Smith. Miss Smith is a journalist who's writing a profile about me for the Sunday Times. I thought it might be useful for her to get a view from the trenches, so to speak. Don't spare my blushes."

I looked over at the Doctor, curious as to what he would think of the newcomer, but he didn't even notice, eyes having locked on her and a grin plastering itself on his face before she headed over with her own smile.

"Hello."

"Oh, I should think so."

"And, you are?"

"Hm? Uh, Smith. John Smith." He spouted out, very nearly forgetting his own nickname if I hadn't elbowed him in the ribs to snap him out of his daze.

 _He's either just fallen in love, or he knows her from somewhere. Though she doesn't seem to know him. Odd._

"And you?" She turned to me as I snapped out of my own daze to answer.

"Kris. Kris Daniels." I lied, having gotten used to switching my last name around, though I hadn't the slightest idea why. _Past self must have done it often for some reason._

"Kris Daniels and… John Smith." She took a deep breath, reminiscing. "I used to have a friend who sometimes went by that name."

"Well, it's a very common name."

"He was a very uncommon man." She shrugged, that smile still on her face, before she held out her hand to the Doctor. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. Yes, very nice. More than nice. Brilliant."

I shook her hand as well, before she looked around, almost nervous or cautious.

"Um, so, um… Have you two worked here long?"

"No. Um, it's only our second day. Kris here is a friend of mine and we got lucky that two spots opened up."

"Oh, you're new, then. So, what do you think of the school? I mean, this new curriculum? So many children getting ill. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"You don't sound like someone just doing a profile." The Doctor said, making her get more cautious and a bit… spunky.

"Well, no harm in a little investigation while I'm here."

"No. Good for you. Good for you." He grinned as she walked off to great the other teachers, him more than a little excited. "Oh, good for you, Sarah Jane Smith."

"I'm guessing you know her then?" I asked, making him turn to me, though he looked surprised I was even there.

"Hm? Oh yeah. Her and I go way back, though I had a different face then."

I scrunched up my brows, confused. "A different what?"

The bell went off then, making him grin once more and wave at me as he started to dash off.

"Sorry, got to go. Class to teach!"

"But—" I cut myself off as he went out into the heard of students and I sighed as I dropped my hand that had reached out for him and instead slinked back to the library to be with the books. _At least the Tardis paid attention to me. With the Doctor and Rose, it's like I hardly even exist half the time. Perhaps… Perhaps I should just go, next time. Disappear at the next planet and… see if they even notice. I don't belong here, after all. And something tells me… that there's… really no where I belong._

* * *

Night approached quickly once I finally found a single book in the whole library that I hadn't read, though the book was about philosophy and I apparently didn't care too much about that subject, though I forced myself to read it in order to stick out the boredom. Didn't have to worry about that _now_ though. We had met up with Mickey in the car park and were currently breaking into the school to figure out what was going on.

"Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong. When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers _slept_ in school." Rose said as we all stopped by the staircase.

"All right, team. Oh, I hate people who say team. Um… gang. Um… comrades... Um, anyway, Rose, go to the kitchen. Get a sample of that oil." The Doctor turned his pointed fingers from her over to us. "Mickey, Kris, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check out the Maths department. I'm going to look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes!" He called out, hurrying down the hall as I sighed, heading out as well and assuming that Mickey would follow or Rose would give him directions.

As I walked though, he soon caught up, looking a bit upset.

"Hey! Why'd you just walk off like that? You shouldn't have left me back there."

"I figured Rose would give you directions and you'd catch up." I said, giving him a look. "And here you are."

"…Right… Look, are you, uh… Are you having issues or something? Something on your mind? You just seem a bit… off."

I pulled my hand through my hair with a long sigh. "Yeah…Yeah, I guess I am a bit… upset about some things."

"Oh…" Things got quiet before he spoke again. "Well, you can talk to me, if you want. I won't tell no one. Not even Rose or the Doctor, if that's what you're worried about, but um… How did you end up with the Doctor anyways? It was my first time meeting you, so I'm guessing you haven't been with him long."

I shook my head. "No. I was… picked up by him and Rose at a… hospital. I wasn't in the best of shape and… I don't have any memories of anything. Well, now I do because they've been coming back, but before… I don't remember things, you know?"

"Like what? You remember your name at least, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't remember anything else really. Where I came from. Who my parents were. Other family. Things like that. I found recently that if I read a book I've read in the past that my memory came back a bit, but nothing bigger than that. I remembered when I first picked up a book, that I had never gone to school. My… father taught me everything apparently. Him, and books."

"So you're a reader then. Huh. Sorry about the memory thing though." He said, looking sympathetic. "It's gotta suck not having anywhere to go because you don't remember."

I nodded, solemnly. "Yeah…"

"Is that's what's bothering you?" He asked.

"I suppose that's a part of it. I want to know more, but I can't get my memory back any faster than I already am, and… I feel like… like the Doctor and Rose are getting further and further away. Like I'm a tag-along."

"I know what you mean." Mickey said, surprising me. "I feel the same way and Rose is supposed to be my girlfriend. I mean, I'm happy that she's out there with the Doctor enjoying herself, you know. I want her to be happy, but they kind of go off into their own world sometimes."

I felt relief at knowing that he knew how I felt and was in a similar position. "And you haven't the slightest clue what they're talking about and you sort of just disappear."

"Yeah!" He said loudly, looking frustrated. "I wish they'd just let us in on the jokes and stuff. It's not like we're thick."

I nodded as well, my tenseness easing up as we started to walk past a cupboard, only for Mickey to stop me.

"Hey, let's check this out. See if they have anything hiding in here."

I shrugged, agreeing, and we did this with a few cupboards before he reached out to one and opened the door only to let out a… rather girlish scream as a large number of packaged rats fell out of it. I let out a snicker, earning a pout from Mickey before I started helping him pick the rats up, just as the Doctor, Rose, and…. Sarah rounded the corner and Mickey freaked out.

"Sorry! Sorry, it was only me. You told us to investigate, so I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell on me."

The Doctor picked some of them up, looking at them as Mickey took a deep breath to try and calm down after the fright.

"Oh, my God, they're rats. Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats."

"And you decided to scream." The Doctor said to Mickey.

"It took me by surprise!"

"Like a little girl?"

"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"

"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt."

Mickey rubbed his head at the Doctor's comment with a whine, before I waved my hand.

"Hello? There's _rats_ in the school? I think that's a bit more important right now, as opposed to Mickey's girlish wailing."

"Hey!" He complained, before Sarah spoke up.

"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them. Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet." She said to Rose, dauntingly. "How old are you?"

The room grew tense and the Doctor, Mickey, and I looked between Sarah and Rose as they verbally fought each other, lightning practically sparking between them.

"Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are you from, the dark ages?"

" _Anyway_ , moving on. Everything started when Mister Finch arrived. We should go and check his office." The Doctor said, keeping them from arguing further before he tossed a rat at Mickey and began heading that way.

I quickly followed, not liking the tension between the two women in the hall. Unfortunately, they caught up quickly and the Doctor and I were caught between them both as they continued.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?" Rose smiled, sickeningly sweet.

"Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with the Doctor."

"Oh. Well, he's never mentioned ya."

"Oh, I must've done. Sarah Jane. Mention her all the time." The Doctor said, getting involved, though I doubted that now was the time.

 _That, and he's lying. He's rubbing his nose, so it's pretty obvious._ I mused, glad that the two women had moved ahead of us, though the tension only grew worse at the Doctor's words.

"Hold on… Sorry… Never."

"What? Not even once? He didn't mention me even once?"

"Ho, ho, mate." Mickey grinned, putting a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "The missus and the ex. Welcome to every man's worst nightmare."

We made it to Finch's office and the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door, speaking to us over his shoulder.

"Maybe those rats were food."

"Food for what?" Rose questioned as he headed into the office.

"Rose… You know how you used to think all the teachers slept in the school?" He stepped further in, allowing us to file in afterwards and catch sight of what he was looking at hanging from the ceiling. "Well, they do."

"No way!" Mickey said, bolting out the door upon catching sight of the bat-like creatures hanging upside down off one of the pipes on the ceiling.

The rest of us hurried out after him, running out of the school, though I fast-walked along with the Doctor near the back.

"I am not going back in there. No way." Mickey shouted, breathing hard as Rose gasped out.

"Those were teachers."

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on." The Doctor turned around, making to head back in the school, but Mickey wasn't having it.

"Come on? You've got to be kidding!"

"I need the Tardis." The Doctor said, briefly turning before walking once more. "I've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen."

Sarah stopped us though. "I might be able to help you there. I've got something to show you."

She took the Doctor's arm and led us towards the car park, heading towards what I could only assume was her car and opening the back to show us a large cloth covering something. The Doctor pulled the cloth off and grinned.

"K9! Rose Taylor, Mickey Smith, Kris Eaton, allow me to introduce K9." He reached over, messing with some of the robot dog's insides. "Well, K9 Mark Three to be precise."

"Why does he look so… disco?"

"Oi!" The Doctor said loudly, offended as he pulled his head out of the boot of Sarah's car. "Listen, in the year 5000, this was cutting edge. What's happened to him?"

"Oh, one day he just…" Sarah shrugged. "…nothing."

"Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?" The Doctor questioned, messing with the dog once more.

"Well it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro, besides, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone."

"Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you, eh?" He cooed, petting the dog's head and making noises as he scratched the dog behind the ears.

I looked over as well, feeling something in me getting upset at the unresponsive dog. "It's looks like he's run out of energy, right? He's just a little rusted and a bit beat up. Should be easy enough to fix, though I don't know how much longer he'd last once he was." I peeked out from the boot. "He's a pretty old model."

Everyone's eyes stared back at me in surprise and even I blinked in confusion for a moment, confused.

"Did I really just say that?"

Rose and Mickey nodded, but the Doctor grinned and messed up my hair with a hand before placing an arm over my shoulder.

"Sounds like you were quite the whiz then, eh? And not just from any old time either. _After_ the year 5000, huh? What do ya say you help me fix old K9 up then?"

I looked at him in surprise. " _Me_? I don't even know why I said that!"

A brief image of a young girl playing with a similar robot dog flashed through my mind, my father chuckling in the background before he grew serious and rushed towards her and grabbed her, running away from the dog just before it was destroyed by something, the little girl crying and reaching towards it as she was carried off.

"Kris? Kris, are you alright? You're crying."

I blinked out of my trance, putting fingers to my face and finding them wet with tears as the group looked at me in worry. I quickly wiped them away, feeling embarrassed, and nodded.

"Y-Yeah. Sorry. It was just a… sad memory."

"Of what?" Rose asked innocently and I looked at her before over at K9.

"A dog. Like that one. I was little and was playing with it with my father before… something happened. He picked me up and ran and the dog… was destroyed…" I frowned slightly, an aching in my chest. "He was my… only friend."

I shook my head, feeling the atmosphere I was causing and pulled a hand through my hair, knowing that I needed to fix this.

"Sorry. We should, um, get going. Alien bat things in the school and all that."

"Yeah… Alright." Rose said, leading us all to the car and we all got it before heading to a café nearby where the Doctor, Sarah, and I worked on fixing K9. Though they were talking and I was mostly doing the fixing with the Doctor keeping an eye on what I was doing to make sure I was doing it right and my memories weren't failing me.

"I thought of you on Christmas Day. This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead. I thought, oh yeah, bet he's up there."

"Right on top of it, yeah."

"And Rose?"

"She was there too."

There was a pause as the Doctor used his screwdriver on K9 for me, him not letting me use it for some reason, though I could see that Sarah wasn't too happy.

"Did I do something wrong, because you never came back for me. You just dumped me."

He stopped as I went back to work, speaking in a worried tone. "I told you. I was called back home and in those days humans weren't allowed."

"I waited for you… I missed you."

"Oh, you didn't need me." He smiled, helping me once more as Sarah sent me a glance briefly. "You were getting on with your life."

"You were my life… You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. You showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just _dropped_ me back on Earth. How could _anything_ compare to that?"

"All those things you saw, do you want me to apologize for that?"

"No, but we get a taste of that splendor and then we have to go back."

"Look at you, you're investigating. You found that school. You're doing what we always did."

"You could have come back."

The Doctor looked at her seriously. "I couldn't."

"Why not?"

Things grew quiet between the two once more and I swallowed thickly as the tension at the table grew before Sarah changed the subject.

"It wasn't Croydon. Where you dropped me off, that wasn't Croydon."

"Where was it?"

"Aberdeen."

"Right. That's next to Croydon, isn't it?"

"Not quite." I muttered. "Complete opposite side of the UK."

"Oh…"

"There we go." I smiled as K9 started up. "I think we might have done it."

"Oh, hey! Now we're in business!" The Doctor drummed his hands on the table, ruffling my hair with a wink and grinned, standing before the dog.

"Master." K9 said, making the Doctor more excited.

"He recognizes me."

"Affirmative."

"Rose, give us the oil."

Rose came over and handed him the glass jar of chip oil she had, the Doctor dipping his finger in it despite Rose's next words and my grimace of disgust.

"I wouldn't touch it, though. That dinner lady got all scorched."

"I'm no dinner lady. And I don't often say that." The Doctor said, handing his finger over to K9 who examined it once he rubbed it on a plunger-like appendage.

"Here we go. Come on, boy. Here we go."

"Oil. Ex-ex-ex-extract. Ana-ana-analysing."

"Listen to him, man. That's a voice." Mickey laughed, only for Sarah to scold him.

"Careful. That's my dog."

"Confirmation of analysis. Substance is Krillitane Oil." K9 replied, making my brows furrow in confusion, my memories trying to reach me, but slipping just out of reach.

"They're Krillitanes."

"Is that bad?" Rose asked.

"Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad." The Doctor said, sounding displeased.

"And what are Krillitanes?"

"They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries, people you've invaded or have been invaded by. You've got bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever. The Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as _well_. They cherry pick the best bits from the people they destroy… That's why I didn't recognize them. The last time I saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks." The Doctor said quickly, thinking.

"What're they doing here?"

"It's the children. They're doing something to the children." He turned to us then. "We need to get back to the school. Tomorrow, we bring the fight to them."

We started heading out, Sarah and Mickey carrying K9 out to the car as I gathered up the bits and pieces we left on the table and walked out with Rose and the Doctor, though it seemed that they were going to have a tense conversation too.

"How many of us have there been traveling with you?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, it does, if I'm just the latest in a long line." She snapped back, making the Doctor stop and turn around.

"As opposed to what?"

"I thought you and me were… I obviously got it wrong. I've been to the year five billion, right, but this? Now this is really seeing the future. You just leave us behind. Is that what you're going to do to me?"

"No. Not to you." He said sternly, making me fidget in the background as I silently questioned if he'd do it to me instead.

"But Sarah Jane? You were that close to _her_ once, and now…you never even mention her. Why not?"

"I don't age… I regenerate."

 _Is that what he meant before? When he said he had a different face back when he knew Sarah? That's… sad…_

"But humans decay. You wither and you _die_. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you..." His voice wavered as I bowed my head and clutched K9's old parts to my chest a little tighter, knowing exactly how he felt.

I'd seen it happen myself, again and again with those people back in the hospital. I hadn't made friends with them, sure, but there was a memory. A memory back in the deepest pit in the back of my head that had me worrying. It had the same feeling. That one of lose and despair. And I feared remembering that one. Because that one could be anything. And that anything, could be the loss of someone close to me.

"What, Doctor?"

"You can spend the rest of your life with me… but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords."

 _Time lords?_ We heard a screeching then and turned to see the headmaster of the school crouched on top of a building along with a Krillitane that swooped down at us, but not actually touching anyone as we ducked out of the way along with Mickey and Sarah.

"Was that a Krillitane?"

"But it didn't even touch her. It just flew off. What did it do that for?"

No one really had an answer for Rose and we headed over to Sarah's house since it was nearby, planning on staying there until morning. Thing was, everyone went to sleep pretty quickly. Sarah was in her room, Mickey and Rose in the guest room, and the Doctor, K9, and I in the living room. But the Doctor and I were still awake, him petting K9 absentmindedly on the head as I just sat in a chair reading a book that I'd already read before. I wanted to talk to him about what he and Rose had talked about, curiosity trying to get the better of me, but… I kept reminding myself again and again that I didn't belong here in this group, with them. That I was going to leave the next chance I got _because_ I had no place here. But the Doctor seemed to sense that I was just staring blankly at the pages thinking, instead of actually reading and turning pages.

"You're not going to sleep?" He questioned, peeking at me from the couch he was sprawled out on. "Would hate if you ran out of energy while we were running about tomorrow."

I set the book down on my lap, sighing. "I don't feel tired… "

"Watch."

"Huh?" I looked at him, confused.

"A watch. You mentioned a watch before. In one of your dreams or memories."

I slowly nodded. "Yes. My father has mentioned a watch. Said it will protect me or something."

"Right." He shot up from his lying down position, looking at me. "But where is it? _You_ don't have it, obviously, so where is it? How is it supposed to protect you if you don't even have the slightest idea where it is?"

"I, uh, don't know. My parents could have it, but I don't think that they…" I looked down. "I honestly don't believe they're alive."

"Another memory?" He questioned and I nodded slightly.

"Yeah. I haven't seen it, but I can feel that it's there. It's dark and thick and…I want to reach out towards it, but I hesitate and it always slips out of my grasp before I can get enough courage to grab it. And there's… more than one."

"What do you mean? More than one what, Kris?"

I felt my chest tighten in fear, swallowing thickly before looking up at the Doctor. "Death. There's… a number of them, all giving off the same feeling as the one I saw of my own dog… I… what if I'm a bad person?"

"You're not a bad person, Kris. I can't see you as one even if you do get your memories back and you find something like that." He stood and walked over, K9 following after him, before he ruffled my hair comfortingly. "Trust me. I can sense these sorts of things and I haven't, for one moment, sensed anything like that coming from you."

"But the memories—"

"Could be deaths caused by others that you were unfortunate enough to witness." He replied, his hand still resting on my head as he smiled downs softly at me. "I won't let you become a bad person, memories or not. After all, I _am_ the Doctor. A little missing memory never stopped me. Now go to sleep."

I frowned up at him. "I already told you, I can't—"

I was cut off as he put a finger to my forehead and everything went dark.

* * *

The next morning, I wasn't too pleased with the Doctor for knocking me out and glared at his back the whole time as we returned to the school and separated into three groups. Mickey and K9 were to stand guard outside, The Doctor was to confront the headmaster, and the rest of us were to go to the Maths room to check computers. What's more, he gave his sonic screwdriver to _Sarah_ when he wouldn't even let me touch it and Rose was standing right there. He then hurried off, leaving myself with a very upset Rose and a smirking Sarah and I just _knew_ things were going to get a bit rough. Luckily, _I_ was the one actually down there working on the computer as Rose and Sarah stole a couple of chairs and argued overhead. That is, until I needed the sonic screwdriver, something Sarah was adamant about using herself. Though it seemed she was having trouble.

"It's not working."

"Give it to me." Rose grumbled, easily working it and doing what I needed as her and Sarah started arguing again.

"Used to work first time in my day."

"Well, things were a lot simpler back then."

"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?"

"I've got a feeling you're about to." Rose said, coming out from under the desk as I did the same and began typing on the computer, trying to keep out of the two's tense conversation.

"I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor can be, and I don't want you to feel I'm intruding."

"I don't feel threatened by you, if that's what you mean."

"Right. Good. Because I'm not interested in picking up where we left off."

"No? With the big sad eyes and the robot dog? What else were you doing last night?"

"I was just saying how _hard_ it was adjusting to life back on Earth."

I mentally groaned, ducking my head lower as Rose stood up and walked a bit.

"The thing is, when _you_ two met they'd only just got rid of rationing. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for you."

" _I_ had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe."

"Try me."

"Mummies."

"I've met ghosts."

"Robots. Lots of robots."

"Slitheen, in Downing Street."

"Daleks!"

"Met the Emperor."

"Anti-matter monsters."

"Gas masked zombies."

"Real living dinosaurs."

"Real living werewolf."

" _The_ Loch Ness Monster!"

"Seriously?" Rose asked, curious now, it seems; as Sarah let out a little gasp and turned away in embarrassment. "Listen to us. It's like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over the Doctor."

"What about you, Kris?"

"Hm?" I turned around, kind of hesitant about getting dragged into this.

"How did you end up with the Doctor?"

I flinched, looking down a bit. "I was, um, picked up by them at a… hospital."

"You were sick then?"

"Ah…" Rose glanced over at me in worry as I turned back to the computer and typed more.

"No. I was being tortured because I couldn't get infected like a normal person."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

I shook my head. "It's fine."

Sarah was quiet for a bit, before she spoke again. "So you have no feelings for the Doctor at all?"

"He's…" I paused in my typing before resuming. "He's kind and friendly, but… no. Not that I know of. I've only known him for a week. There's… nothing between us."

"Oh." Rose said, sounding a little relieved. "With you, Sarah, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go, what? And he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?"

"All the time!" Sarah laughed. "Does he still stroke bits of the Tardis?"

"Yeah! Yeah, he does. I'm like, do you two want to be alone?"

They continued to laugh as I smiled slightly, just as the Doctor walked in.

"How's it going?" He spotted the two laughing women and gave them a confused look. "What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these."

They just kept laughing.

"What? Stop it! Kris, what's their problem?"

I glanced over my shoulder and smiled a little. "They were making fun of you."

"Oi!" He called out loudly, making them double over in laughter and he groaned, turning back to me as he wandered over. "What about you? Have you gotten anything?"

I shook my head, getting serious once more. "I can't access the program at all. The screwdriver wasn't even helping."

The Doctor frowned as an announcement went off for the kids to get back to class, making him turn towards the chuckling Rose and ordering her to keep the kids out of the room as he went to work trying to get into the computer too. He wrapped a set of cords around his neck and pulled the desktop onto the table, scanning it with his screwdriver as Rose and Sarah headed over.

"I can't shift it."

"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!" Sarah exclaimed, worried.

"Anything except a deadlock seal. There's got to be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?"

He continued to try and get into the program, but nothing was working, until the screens were filled with some sort of green writing.

"You wanted the program? There it is."

The Doctor glanced up at the projection on the wall. "Some sort of code." He looked at it a bit longer before his face fell. "No… No, that can't be."

"What is it?" I questioned, eyes scanning the information scrolling across the screen, that nagging sensation in the back of my mind just out of reach.

"The Skasis Paradigm. They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."

"The Skasis what?"

"The… God maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."

"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?"

"Yes… And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil. That oil from the kitchens, it works as a, as a conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer." The Doctor spouted, moving around the desk and leaning on it.

"But that oil's on the chips. I've been eating them." Rose muttered, looking scared.

"What's fifty nine times thirty five?"

"Two thousand and sixty five." She answered quickly, the Doctor tilting his head. "Oh, my God."

"But why use children? Can't they use adults?"

"No, it's got to be children. The God maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code…they're using their souls." He said, just as the door opened and the headmaster walked inside.

"Let the lesson begin… Think of it, Doctor. With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe _and_ improve it." He said, walking closer.

"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mister Finch? Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are."

"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order? Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."

"What, by someone like you?" The Doctor scoffed as Finch smirked.

"No, someone like _you_. The Paradigm gives us power, but _you_ could give us wisdom. Become a God at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Assinta. Your own _people_ , Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords reborn."

"Doctor, don't listen to him." Sarah said, stepping forward, Finch turning to her.

"And _you_ could be with him throughout eternity. Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die." He turned to me, eyes sharp, narrowed. "You, there's something different about you though. Almost as if you're…" He stepped closer to me, inhaling deeply. "Not quite human…" He backed off and instead turned back to the Doctor, leaving me there confused. "Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. _Join_ us."

"I could save everyone." The Doctor muttered.

"Yes."

"I could stop the war."

"No." Sarah said. "The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends."

The Doctor sucked in a deep breath before grabbing a chair and throwing it at the large projection screen, shattering the glass and shouting at us.

"Out!"

We did as he said, hurrying out and running back towards the stairs where we bumped into Mickey and a student.

"What is going on?!" Mickey shouted, before we all caught sight of the Krillitane heading our way, making us turn tail and run.

We got as far as the canteen before Finch caught up with us, the doors being locked and no time for the Doctor to pulled out and use his screwdriver as the man and his friends headed our way.

"Are they my teachers?" The boy questioned.

"Yeah. Sorry." The Doctor apologized.

"We need the Doctor alive. The scarf wearing one as well. As for the others, you can feast."

The Krillitane screeched and flew at us, us ducking under tables or wielding chairs in our defense before a laser came out of nowhere and shot down one of them, making Finch shout.

"K9!" Sarah shouted, slightly relieved.

"Suggest you engage running mode, mistress." The dog replied, still shooting down Krillitane as the Doctor hurried us out.

"Come on! K9! Hold them back!"

"Affirmative, master… Maximum defense mode."

The Doctor hurried us through a set of doors before sealing them, making me pause and looked back in sadness, only for him to lead me over to a chair gently; myself completely out of breath and gasping for air.

"There ya go. Relax a bit, yeah? Catch your breath. You're still not tip-top after what happened before. I'll be sure to put a gym in the Tardis so you can get working on that too." He smiled, before dropping it sadly. "And I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do."

"I know." I said, thinking about K9.

The Doctor moved over to the front of the classroom we were in, thinking before he seemed to figure something out.

"It's the oil. Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil. That's it! They've changed their physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them. How much was there in the kitchens?"

"Barrels of it." Rose said, just as the Krillitane screeched and began attacking the door.

"Okay, we need to get to the kitchens. Mickey."

"What now, hold the coats?" He said, tossing his hands up in exasperation.

"Get all the children unplugged and out of the school. Now then, bats, bats, bats. How do we fight bats?"

The student, I noticed, went over to the alarm on the wall and hit it with his elbow, setting it off as I smirked and ruffled his hair.

"Good thinking!"

The Doctor laughed, before opening the door and leading us all out right past Finch and his bats, making our way to the canteen once more.

"Master!" I heard K9's voice behind me and I paused, turning with a grin as the Doctor hurried him along with us.

"Come on, boy! Good boy!"

Mickey went one way to go get the children and the rest of us went into the kitchen where the Doctor began using his screwdriver on the large barrels of Krillitane oil; myself leaning up against the cabinet and trying to keep my breathing under control as I smiled and scratched K9 behind the ears.

"Good boy."

"To the left, please." It said, making me chuckle as I moved my hand to the left.

"They've been deadlocked sealed. Finch must've done that. I can't open them." The Doctor said, before K9 spoke up.

"The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing."

"Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, stay with me."

I glanced over at the dog beside me and the Doctor as he headed over—everyone else running out the door.

"K9, you're a good dog, you know that?"

"Affirmative." It said back, ears twisting around happily. "And you are good person."

I chuckled, the Doctor helping me up as we both smiled. "Affirmative."

I then headed outside as the Doctor got everything in place, before he hurried out alone, locking the door.

"Where's K9?" Sarah asked.

"We need to run." The Doctor replied, making her upset and forcing him to grab her and pulled her around to where the rest of us were.

"Where is he? What have you done?!"

We gathered with the students and Mickey outside and the school blew up, everyone cheering as papers flew about. Everyone, but the Doctor, Sarah, and I.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said to Sarah as the kids cheered.

"It's alright." She replied, though it was far from the truth. "It was just a… a daft, metal dog. It's fine. Really."

She started crying as the Doctor comforted her the best he could and I sighed quietly as well, knowing that that was the last time I'd see K9.

* * *

The Doctor had moved the Tardis out of the school and onto the grounds of a park, and he invited Sarah over. She was more than excited to see the Tardis, who was very glad we had returned—humming pleasingly in my head—and she spun around.

"You've redecorated."

"Do you like it?"

"Oh, I-I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was but, uh, yeah. It'll do."

"I love it." Rose said, sounding cross.

"Hey you, what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?"

"No idea." Rose said proudly. "It's gone now. The oil's faded."

"But you're still clever. More than a match for him." She said, nodding towards the Doctor who was hardly listening as he input coordinates into the Tardis.

"You and me both… Doctor?"

He perked his head up. "Uh, we're about to head off, but… you could come with us."

She let out a long breath, looking happy, but not as happy as one would think. "No. I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much _bigger_ adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."

"Can I come?" Mickey asked, earning odd looks. "No, not with you, I mean with you." He nodded towards the Doctor. "Because I'm _not_ the tin dog and I want to see what's out there."

"Oh, go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board." Sarah said.

"Okay then, I could do with a laugh."

"Rose, is that okay?" He asked, sensing that she was upset about something.

"No, great. Why not?" She lied.

"Well, I'd better go."

She took Rose off to the side as the Doctor came over to me and ruffled my hair with a grin.

"Hey there. How you feeling? Better?"

I nodded, him having given me something that he said would help boost my energy level since they've been so low lately. "They helped, yeah."

He grinned, before heading out to see Sarah off, pausing in the doorway and giving me a look. "I'll be sure to get you some more later and get that gym up so you can start working on getting your strength back, alright?"

I nodded, waving a little, but couldn't help but still feel a little off about all of this. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I was still questioning everything. _Especially what Finch said… Am I… really not human?_


End file.
